Nature or Nurture
by lozlol
Summary: Stolen from her family by the Order as a baby, Hermione is raised by the Potters. When she begins to date the boy she was destined to fall in love with the truth is bound to come out, and Voldemort is one to hold grudges.
1. Rockabye

_**Chapter I- Rockabye:**_

 _My second Dramione AU! This one is over the course of one year as opposed to their whole time at Hogwarts. Most of this story is set in sixth year but the first chapter gives some background. Hope you enjoy :)_

"Shush, shush..." eyes full of unshed tears, the doe eyed brunette rocked the screeching baby swathed in blankets. Her attempts were futile, the cries only got louder and louder, the desperation mirroring her own as she peered out of the window, watching dark figures massing on her home. Her husband touched her arm in a gesture of comfort but before she could say anything in response he was out of the door, his wand quickly moving with his lips, a spell she didn't know flowing out of them. She raced towards him but found herself stuck on the threshold. Lines of hurt creased her face as she realised what he'd done, but staring at the face that had changed so much since his eyes had first met hers from across the Great Hall all those years ago, and yet remained the one she adored, she knew his reasons were only that same love of her. And indeed, he mouthed 'you'll be safe', his eyes focussing first on her and then the nine month old in her arms before he reluctantly disappeared from her line of sight. Her heart racing a hundred miles a minute, she sank onto the bed, her gaze focussed numbly on a single spot on the wall as the drone of her daughter faded into nothingness. When she came back to reality the crying was still incessant, though it had quietened. This time though, she could hear other voices too and she shrunk against the wall.

"...most had 'im." A man growled. The relief that her husband was still alive was secondary to the realisation that the voices were approaching.

"There'll be other chances James," this one sounded older. "You just have to be patient and have faith. The Light _will_ prevail- _"_

"Will that be before or after the Dark kills all our children?" A third voice questioned. The older man began to speak again, but then he paused. "Did you hear that?" She covered her mouth with her free hand as though holding her breath would stop them. It shouldn't matter anyway. Tom had silenced the room. But if something had happened to him... they'd said he'd escaped but she didn't know the ins and outs of this particular spell. Panic overwhelmed her and she gently placed the baby into her crib, terrified she would drop her, her hands were shaking so much. Turned away from the doorway, she didn't see the men appear there, wands outstretched. As she heard the killing curse she started to turn but it was too late. The green light struck her and she crashed to the wooden ground immediately with a loud bang, oblivious to the terrified wails that soared as her child watched their mother disappear from sight. The gentle feminine face was replaced with several confused male ones. One of them still held his wand, but another slapped it out of his hand. "Are you crazy? That's a baby!"

" _You-Know-Who's baby!"_

Taking her in his arms, the white haired grand-fatherly one said, "There's no need for them to ever know that."

"What are you saying?" The first one asked. "We take her in and raise her as one of us?"

"That's _exactly_ what I'm saying," he agreed. "I've always believed nurture is far more pivotal than nature." He turned to one of the men behind him. "Arthur?"

The redhead shook his head sombrely. "I'm sorry Albus. Molly and I are already struggling to make ends meet as it is. We just had Ron, and we're not ready for another one so soon."

"Sirius?" The second man to be asked shook his head too. He wasn't ready for a child, he said.

"We'll do it."" Everyone turned disbelievingly to the scruffy looking man staring at the baby.

"Are you sure James?" His best friend asked. "You and Lily are gonna have your own bundle of joy soon too."

James reached over to the bawling child and picked her up from his former headmaster's arms, eyes on hers. "Lily always wanted twins. We can raise them as such."

* * *

Exactly a year and three months later the door was blown down at the Potter home in Godric's Hollow, a disturbing shadow of the Order's attack on Voldemort's home. "He's here." James launched himself off of the sofa, his eyes stormy as he shoved his wife behind him. "GO!" He cried and Lily obeyed, running upstairs to the two children, even as she heard the terrifying words bellowed and the room behind her flashed green, the colour reverberating in the corner of her eyesight.

Her natural instincts had her racing towards Harry and once she knew he was fine she looked to Hermione. They were both unbruised and she thanked God for it, but that was all she had time to do as Voldemort thundered through the door. "Step aside!" He roared. "Give me my daughter!"

"She's not yours." Lily stuck her chin up in defiance. "She's mine!" His eyes flashed red and she clenched hers briefly as she prepared for the endless oblivion that would follow his bloodthirsty scream- but the end didn't come. Not for her. Peeling her eyes open, she looked down to see the man who'd loved her endlessly slumped on the floor. "Severus? _Severus_!" Lily collapsed to her knees and took him into her arms, not even noticing the masked figure that appeared and whisked the halfway dead corpse of her nemesis away.

* * *

Shrivelled and broken, the darkest wizard the world had ever known lay hunched over on the floor. "My lord?" He brushed away his closest friend's nervous voice, though he couldn't find the words to accompany the action. His throat felt like someone was squeezing it until he choked, his eyes burnt like a red hot poker was being held to them, his skin fizzled, falling away. Faintly, he could hear the coos of the child who'd been betrothed to his own, and that pain hurt more than all the physical.

* * *

Dumbledore looked sadly at the heartbroken woman before him. Her voice cracked as she explained the horrific events of the night and how she'd come straight here for help. He'd been shocked to learn Sirius would betray his closest friends but it all made more sense when he learnt they had switched their Secret-Keeper to be the weak-willed Peter Pettigrew at the last minute. They were at Sirius's family home now, since he had volunteered it as the headquarters for the Order of the Phoenix, and he was playing with his unaware godchildren, who had calmed down now that the threat was in the past. The organisation would be disbanded now, Dumbledore supposed, since everything pointed to Voldemort being dead. Lily herself seemed disbelieving, and even if he was dead if his followers knew his heir was alive and ready to take his throne they would surely come for her. Dumbledore suggested they remain living in secrecy, but in a different location, and as well that a Transfiguration charm. He simply softened her features a little, making them more like her adoptive parents', and changed the eye colour- the blue reminded him eerily of the Tom he used to know. Hopefully those changes would be enough, he was sure they would. After all, Severus had told him the Death Eaters had known neither about a child nor the loss of one since it seemed Voldemort had never shared the news with his friends. Oh Severus... he'd never been sure of the Slytherin's loyalty and it was a pity that the masses would never know of his heroism, but a necessary sacrifice. For everything to work out the Order, and the Potters especially, had to be seen as the saviours of the Wizarding World. It was just unfortunate Severus had become collateral damage.

* * *

As their mother held tightly onto Harry and kissed his forehead Hermione chatted to an envious Ginny. The redhead was outraged that they would now all be at Hogwarts without her, though Hermione had reminded her that it was only a year a good five times just since they'd all met up at King's Cross. She liked Ginny, she had to, they lived in such seclusion she was the only girl her own age she knew, but the other girl could be terribly whiney, and she saw the way Ginny pined after her twin, even if her brother was too oblivious to notice it himself. "Good luck!" Her thought process was interrupted as she was suddenly enveloped in a tight hug. It was telling that the Weasley matriarch had finished saying goodbye to her whole brood whilst Hermione's own mother was still clutching onto Harry. At last she let him go, scrubbing at the lipstick stains on his face.

"Bye Mum, bye Uncle Sirius," Hermione smiled at the man standing beside her mother. She got a demure peck on the cheek, and a hug, but it didn't fool her. She could fool others, sometimes even herself, but Hermione had always been a perceptive child. A cool, thin layer of ice had covered her mother's eyes when she had approached, as it always did. The question was **why**. She'd never known what she'd done to make her mother feel so coldly towards her and she feared she never would. Lily didn't treat her badly, perhaps she never would have noticed had it not been for the difference in the way she looked at Harry. She took Hermione's face in her hands now, though she looked at her with a strange perplexment rather than adoration, her long dark red hair falling effortlessly around her face. Hermione had always envied that hair, wished she could have inherited it instead of the tangled bush that was hers. Harry's was messy too, but hers was something else entirely. In fact she wished she'd inherited anything at all of her mother's. Whilst people always said Harry looked like a carbon copy of their father, save Lily's piercing green eyes, she sometimes sat in front of the mirror struggling to find anything to link her to the woman before, her own dark eyes looked like her father's, though perhaps her mother saw that as a curse, perhaps it was why she looked so uncomfortable right now. She'd come to the conclusion that her chin was her mother's, though she didn't know if that was just from searching so hard that she'd reshaped herself in the process. At least she knew from the praise of others that while Harry may have their mother's eyes, she'd gotten her brains. And wasn't that better than silky, lustrous hair anyway? "Have a good time sweetheart," Lily sighed, smiling softly at her. Sirius pulled her into his side for a quick hug and then he was pushing her over towards the train, having to race behind the Weasley boys and her brother who were already piling on.

This part of the Hogwarts Express was overflowing with excited First Years and Hermione was so distracted by the contagious enthusiasm that she wasn't paying attention when she crashed into a bony blond body. She quickly apologised, but that didn't stop him from hissing "watch it!" When she looked up she knew why. Standing in front of her was a Malfoy, a family as infamous as hers was beloved. They had been known to be some of You-Know-Who's strongest supporters, but their patriarch had claimed he'd been acting under the effects of Imperius curse and had gotten away with little more than a tap on the wrist. Now he flaunted his freedom in his top Ministry job and his wealth at fabulous parties his socialite wife threw. Disgusting, honestly, all of them. Admittedly, Hermione had never actually met one, just seen his pompous face all over the Daily Prophet in family portraits and once glimpsed him from across Diagon Alley, but she'd been prepped for this her whole life. Honestly, she was a little disappointed. He didn't look like a benevolent dictator, or even a benevolent dictator's sidekick, just another schoolboy who'd been pandered to his whole life. That changed though when he sneered down at her; their family might not seek out the cameras like his did but the Wizarding World newspapers and their readers were still obsessed with the tragic tale of the Potters, so Hermione had had her share of space on the pages as well. "Well, well," Malfoy chuckled. "Two Potheads and a Weasel." A hand tightened around her arm and Hermione turned to see Harry yanking her up, whispering that they should just go. Seriously? They couldn't just let themselves be walked all over. The Malfoys were bullies but she wasn't going to let any of them get away with this any longer. It had already gone on long enough.

"Is that the best you can do Ferret?" She scoffed. "I suppose it's only to be expected that those with low IQ's must stoop to name calling. And not even creative name calling at that." And with that she glided away, or at least that was how she imagined it in her head, really it was a bit more of a stumble as the train lurched forwards and she nearly fell on the floor for the second time in two minutes.

"The Lioness has teeth!" Malfoy called after her, "though sadly not the ability to land on her feet." She ignored the cackles of him and his two cronies, instead pulling open the door to the first open compartment she found, shoving her stuff under the seat and sliding down onto it, managing to get in a quick wave to her family, who looked ecstatic to see that the three of them had in fact made it to their space alive. As the familiar faces faded into the distance Hermione stretched out along the seat and pulled out her book. Ron, however, knocked her legs down, causing her to send a glare his way.

"Oh shove off!" He said. "You're just gonna be reading the whole time anyway, but I need to sit opposite Harry to play exploding snap!" A most productive use of time. She huffed and threw her book down on the table, grabbing her uniform from her bag.

"I'm going to get changed," she declared.

"Fine with me," Ron quickly scrambled into the window seat she'd vacated as Harry laughed, sliding over too as he shuffled the cards. Hermione rolled her eyes and, clothes under her arm, headed out of the door. Everyone had told her to stick with Harry and Ron, that they would protect each other, but she didn't know if that was really for the best. She wanted the opportunity to finally make friends of her own choosing rather than those that had been forced upon her. Glancing in each window she passed she saw groups of friends and realised that while the boys mirrored them, she would have looked like an outsider if she'd walked past her own compartment, sitting there alone. She did a double take when she looked into one of the compartments and saw Malfoy, who wasn't sitting with just his cronies as she'd have thought, but rather a large group of friends. A blonde girl was speaking animatedly and then they all burst out laughing, even Malfoy himself. And not cruel cackles, but genuine, happy laughter. His gaze momentarily fell on her, hardening, and she realised she'd come to a halt. Automatically she sped off, unaware of the curious look trailing her.

* * *

Heaving her trunk along behind her, Hermione followed the boys off of the train a tedious amount of hours later, rushing them along as they were pretty much the last ones off of the train. The two of them had a bad case of sweet tooth, and Ron had only been too happy to encourage his best friend to spend a good chunk of his vast inheritance on at least one of everything from the snack trolley. Of course they hadn't considered where they were going to put all these sweets, and ended up stuffing them into their bags and pockets like hoarders, oh, and their mouths of course. Ron was currently trying to get through a whole pack of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, and unfortunately in that moment he sampled an earwax one- and promptly spat it out. "RONALD!" Hermione shrieked, dropping her trunk in an attempt to avoid the mush on the floor at the still quite busy platform. It sprung open and she let out an angry shriek, dropping to the floor to sort it out, but someone else beat her too it.

"I'm going to have to start calling you Penguin instead of Lioness," Malfoy sneered as he threw the clothes back into her trunk, which she snatched away from him and quickly snapped shut.

"Leave her alone, snake" Harry stared the blond down.

He just chuckled. "You may think I'm slimy but I'm more of a gentleman than you'll ever be." The two boys looked blankly at him. "I didn't see either of you rushing to help her out. I thought you're supposed to be pack animals."

Before either boy could respond an inhumanly tall man approached their small group. "C'mon you lot! You're 'oldin' everyone up." Hermione glanced behind him to see the platform had indeed cleared. The older students had disappeared while the other First Years were boarding small rowboats. Malfoy moved to join his friends but the man pulled him back.

"Get off me you oaf!" Somehow he managed to look down on this man even while so evidently looking up. That was a skill, albeit not a particularly admirable one.

"You four are gonna have to come wit' me." And so, reluctantly, they got onto the last remaining boat together. The boys made sure to avoid eye contact entirely, but Hermione couldn't seem to keep her eyes off of Malfoy. He intrigued her- that was for sure. She'd never met anyone like him before, and yet she somehow felt like she had.

* * *

As they entered the hallowed halls of Hogwarts, Malfoy was still just behind them. "...I was _this_ close to going to Durmstrung. Much better really," he was explaining to whoever would listen. "But Mother decided it was too far a journey."

"Awww!" Ron cooed. " _Does Drakie miss his Mummy anyw_ -" The doors in front of them opened and the sight of tables of food caused him to lose his train of thought. "Woah..."

Malfoy chuckled. " _Is Ronnie seeing more food than his peasant parents have provided him with in a lifetime?"_ He had a sharp wit, she was loath to admit, even if he was determined to use it for the forces of evil.

"Come on," she urged the ginger forwards before he could retaliate and lose points before they'd even been sorted. Sorting... she'd spent countless hours this summer pondering where she'd end up. It was universally expected that the Potter kids would be in Gryffindor of course; Molly had already knitted them scarlet and gold jumpers to keep them warm when the castle got draughty, but she couldn't help but think that she fit into Ravenclaw better. Her mother had been terrified for their lives even though You-Know-Who was dead, so they'd been home schooled. Harry had never really taken it seriously so he was woefully behind but she'd gone the other way. Her education had been mostly muggle-based, but in the last few years a little basic magic had been incorporated and she couldn't wait to show off what she knew here. That was, if she survived the sorting. She was, she'd admitted, somewhat fearful that she'd be shunned if she ended up in Ravenclaw or, God forbid, Slytherin.

Harry was before her alphabetically and his face lit up when he was sent to Gryffindor, although the hat seemed to deliberate on it for longer than she'd expected. She would have assumed it was obvious her brother belonged there... she wondered where else the hat had considered putting him.

When the time finally came for her to sit on the stool herself she sat there with bated breath as the hat was placed on her head. "Intelligent and witty. Tick, tick! You love a riddle don't you!" The hat let out a tinkling chuckle at some joke of its own it wasn't letting her in on. "Yes, you'd do fine as an eagle, but it's undeniable that your natural home is-" the hat broke off and her face trembled as she waited tentatively for a good fifteen seconds, worried something had gone wrong. Behind her, the headmaster leant forward, just as nervous, praying his plan would work. "GRYFFINDOR!" The hat shouted at last, and if it was with a little less conviction than usual she didn't notice.

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	2. Secret Love Song

_**Chapter II- Secret Love Song:**_

Her eyes glued to the Advanced Arithmancy book in her arms, Hermione walked down the train corridor without seeing where she was going, or the hand that darted out of an empty compartment and pulled her inside. "Get off of me!" She shrieked in horror.

"Not likely," the familiar smooth voice dripped with arrogance. "I haven't touched you for sixty-two days." A smirk tugged at her lip and she spun around in his grip, their lips crashing into each other's at the same moment. They clung onto each other like shipwrecked sailors, thirsty, hungry, desperate. She could feel the heat building all over her body and she succumbed to him as he pulled her back onto the seat, laying her out along it and covering her with his body. When his hands started to creep lower though, she pushed them away, not ready for that yet. He got the message and with a contented sigh they settled onto the seat together, his arm around her. He pressed one last quick kiss to her lips and then asked, "So how was your summer?"

"Dull," she looked up to him, touching his hair casually. "So… I was thinking we could maybe…" she averted her eyes from his. "Tell-Harry-and-Ron-about-us?" The words ran together and ended up sounding less confident than she'd been aiming for, but she knew he'd heard them when she glanced back at him nervously and saw the dark edge to them. He was closing off again.

"Why? It's not like we're getting married, this is just a bit of fun."

"Just a bit of fun?" She couldn't stop the hurt tone from seeping into her voice, despite the fact that she really didn't want to sound like a clingy girlfriend, but they had been 'dating' for half a year, ever since the Yule Ball where they'd shared a masquerade dance and learnt they had more in common than they'd ever thought possible. She used the word 'dating' tentatively though, since they'd never actually been on one of these elusive 'dates'. Their romance had centred around stolen moments in cupboards and midnight rendezvous. And while that was all well and good, she wanted something more... concrete. She'd thought he had too. Evidently not.

"Oh you know that's not what I meant."

Pushing him off of her, she glared down at him. "I think it's exactly what you meant."

"Oh come on. Hermione!" She ignored his calls and the loud huff of frustration as she left the compartment, making sure to slam the door behind her as she wiped away the droplets beginning to trickle from her eyes.

* * *

Hermione had managed to avoid Draco like the plague for two whole weeks. He'd tried to catch her eye multiple times but it wasn't like they could sit together, since he was so against the idea of their relationship ever being public knowledge, and she made sure to stick by Harry and Ron as much as she could so that he wouldn't approach her even when the halls were empty. It was when Ron fell ill that a problem arose.

She had to patrol the corridors alone and, of course, Draco being the sly snake that he was, knew about this even before her.

She'd actually thought she'd gotten away with it, but curiosity killed the cat, and it did her too. She couldn't stop herself from peering into the classroom on the second floor that had been their meeting place last year- and the door shut behind her. "Remember all the fun times we've had in here..." Draco whispered against her ear. She pushed him away and tried to leave but he grabbed onto her wrist. "Don't go." The sincerity in his voice was a shift, enough to make her pause. "I know I was a dick, but the truth is I don't want Weaselbee and Boy Wonder to be the first ones to know about us." Normally she would have chastised him for name-calling but she was intrigued as to where this was going. "I'm afraid... that once the school starts to work it out word will spread and it'll get back to my parents." She could imagine that being a problem; her family was going to be bad, but she was pretty sure the aftermath when they told his would be apocalyptic. "I want to tell them first."

She did a double take, her eyes widening. "What? Draco, are you sure that's the best thing to do?"

"No," he chuckled drolly. "But it's the **right** thing to do. I spoke without thinking before, but now I've had time to do that I've realised the truth. I do want something serious with you, and this is the only way forward," her face broke into a smile of unadulterated joy and she kissed him passionately on the lips. "Even if I do end up homeless, out of my inheritance and disowned," he added breathlessly when they broke apart and she slapped his arm, giggling as she did so.

* * *

She wasn't giggling a few weeks later as she glanced around the crowded restaurant ceaselessly for the faces she'd only ever briefly glimpsed at the train station and seen beaming and posed in newspapers. Her stomach was hurtling like she was doing a loop-the-loop. At least she probably wouldn't have to eat anything since someone would surely throw a curse before the pre-dinner drinks even commenced. Draco put a hand on her knee to calm her case of restless leg syndrome and her head snapped to him. "Don't worry babe, it'll be-" she raised an eyebrow, daring him to patronise her. Wisely he chose not to. Taking a long exhale she channelled the relaxation her mother seemed to find in yoga. They'd decided to come meet his parents as soon as possible, and Draco had advised somewhere public like Hogsmede so they couldn't make a scene, but without their classmates. This had been his decision. She'd never been anywhere this nice. Not that she'd been to many restaurants at all. Apparently this was Mrs Malfoy's favourite, she was stunned to learn since she never thought they'd be caught dead in a muggle establishment. Were there many wizarding restaurants around though?

"Draco darling!" The voice dripping with adoration slammed her back into this unrealistic reality and she looked up to see that Draco was being kissed on each cheek by his mother. His father was just behind her and saw Hermione at the same time his wife did. Both of them paused in front of their chairs and focused on her, bewildered. Well at least it was confusion that she was with their son rather than anger. "Do... have we met?" Narcissa Malfoy's eyebrows were furrowed in confusion.

"You might have seen Hermione in the Daily Prophet," Draco suggested gingerly, finding her hand and giving it a little squeeze as he sat back down.

His parents followed suite, Mrs Malfoy shaking her head. "That can't be it. You know I don't read such derisory drabble-"

"Hermione, you said it was?" Mr Malfoy was still looking at her as though she were a puzzle piece he couldn't slot into its space.

"Hermione Potter." She held her head high, determined they wouldn't see her flinch. And indeed, it was them that flinched. The two of them shared a look of silent communication and she shifted uncomfortably, not liking the fact that she had no idea what they were thinking. "And I'm dating your son." She laced her fingers through Draco's and lifted them up as proof.

Mrs Malfoy's eyes grew as large as her salad plate. "This is serious?" Her husband asked. They both nodded, exchanging small smiles of encouragement. This was going a lot better than she'd hoped, albeit somewhat weirdly. "It can't be..." he whispered under his breath. Now it was Hermione's turn to look confused.

"It's not possible," the woman beside him agreed, but with more conviction. She was speaking to Draco rather than to herself. "You were magically betrothed to another witch from your birth, who we lost contact with. You shouldn't even be able to touch another in a romantic way," she gestured to their linked hands. "Without feeling like your skin was being burnt away." Pleasant. The things these traditional Pure-bloods did to their children continued to astound Hermione. "Unless she was dead."

"Then she must be dead," Hermione reasoned, a perfectly logical explanation if she did say so herself. And the only one that fit.

Draco's parents shared another look and then his father looked to them. "We need you both to come back to Malfoy Manor."

Her boyfriend raised an eyebrow and she frowned as well. "Why?"

"We need to check something." Mr Malfoy explained. "A scroll. If what you think is true it should have shredded itself." She shifted uncomfortably. For all she knew this could be a trick to drag her to their home, lock her up in a dungeon and _Crucio_ her for tainting their son's reputation by being linked to a blood traitor.

Looking to Draco for support, she saw he was studying his parents' faces. "Humour them," he begged at last in a whisper. "Maybe once they see the scroll's gone they'll accept the truth and we can actually move forward."

* * *

And that was how she found herself shifting uncomfortably in a decadent room Draco said was his father's office, in an area of the house he apparently had never visited before. Mr Malfoy seemed to have a lot of mysterious documents as it took him a while, but finally he produced a completely undamaged scroll, looking first to his wife, then to Hermione. Mrs Malfoy took her hand and began to pull her out of the room, saying something about how she had to show her something.

Draco wasn't having it though, he snatched her other hand, pulling her back in a tug of war with his mother. "That's enough!" He shouted. "Hermione may be a Potter, but she doesn't have to prove herself to you with some disturbed-"

"She may not be who you think she is," his father fixed his eyes on her and she shivered under the scrutiny. What was that supposed to mean?

"Please," begged Mrs Malfoy. The genuine tone in her voice gave Hermione pause and after a moment she gave a sharp nod and relented, shaking both Malfoys off and voluntarily following the older woman.

The room at the end of the hallway had an intricate yet unremarkable carving compared to all the other similar ones, and yet she felt a strange... energy coming from it. It seemed untouched, sacred, haunted. The hand on the doorknob hesitated before twisting it. Trying to peer inside without obviously craning her neck, Hermione felt overcome with curiosity. And it was a curious room indeed. Pitch black, due to the drawn curtains, made of a material that was thick enough to block out the sun on this unseasonably bright October afternoon. Thanks to the light from behind her she could make out the sparing furniture. A bed was the centrepiece of the room, adorned with an invalid, covered in duvets. She took an unconscious step forward as if being pulled by a string and heard a sharp intake of breath in the otherwise silent room. She wasn't sure who it had come from, but Draco's parents nodded her forwards. When she was beside the bed she'd thought she would be able to make out a body as opposed to a shapeless mass, but all that became clearer was the alien looking creature. Intrigued, she took one more step forward so that she was a mere foot away, her hand dangling by her side. A scaly, hand-like structure suddenly flailed out and clutched onto her own, evoking a shocked gasp. It felt like she was receiving the Kiss from a dementor- a soul-stealing feeling unlike any other. Looking at the figure, her eyes widened as before her it began to take a more humanoid image, being sculpted and shaped. Its eyes flew open and they were glinting red pools of blood. Released, she stumbled back into Draco's stunned arms, which he wrapped around her protectively, his eyes as stunned and terrified as hers. "Wha-" her voice came out rushed and panicked sounding, as if she were about to collapse. "Who are you?"

He smiled and it sent chills down her spine. "Your father."

 ** _Thanks for the support of the first chapter. Review! Guests, leave a name so I can reply :)_**


	3. Hurts Like Hell

_**Chapter III- Hurts Like Hell:**_

 _Guest (26/10, 27/10, 29/10)- Thank you!_

 _Guest (29/10)- The first chapter ends in first year and chapter 2 is sixth year, so 5 years._

So as she saw it, Hermione had three options; a) get the hell out of there, b) continue to stand frozen like an ice statue, or c) use basic logic to explain why this couldn't possibly be so. She was always a sucker for logic. C it was.

"My father's name is James Potter," she told the figure who'd gained strength and now posed a much more intimidating threat. But she could stand tall too. "And he's dead."

"Your father's name is Tom Riddle," the man in the bed challenged. He may be more human now, but his eyes were still piercingly, disturbingly red, like lasers into her own. She felt desperately vulnerable beneath them. "And he is very much alive. Thanks to your return." Tom Riddle, why did that name sound so familiar? "I don't expect you to believe me immediately, in fact I'd be disappointed if you did. But I can prove it to you. Lucius, get the pensieve."

"Yes, my lord," Mr Malfoy eagerly obeyed, practically falling over his feet to do so, and that was when it hit her. Tom Marvolo Riddle. She'd read about him. It was the name of Lord Voldemort before the demon had been born. The man behind the monster.

But this couldn't be. "I-" Her family had destroyed him fifteen years ago. "How?" She'd heard the stories, myths, repeated to her like campfire tales or a mantra. They were the basis of her world, the foundation of her own story. She knew the characters like the back of her hand. Her mother, the powerless, desperate heroine. The Order, the friends too tragically late to do anything but eternally crave a do-over. Her father, the paragon of bravery who'd killed Voldemort and lost his own life in the process.

"That night when Severus saved Lily Potter it did almost kill me." Severus. A name she'd never heard in this story. An unsung hero? A bluff? "But instead, the last remaining piece of my soul went into my last remaining relative, who happened to be in the room, my one year old daughter. Today you gave it back to me and it returned me to the form I was before, that and the blood of my blood." She looked down at her hand and at the prick from his nail that she hadn't even noticed until now. Mr Malfoy returned with the pensieve then, placing it in front of her. He handed the dark wizard his wand but before he could put his own memories inside it Hermione cried out for him to stop. After all, how could she trust that he wasn't just manipulating these memories to gain her trust so she'd side against her family and friends. That seemed to hurt him a little, but regardless, he asked her "do you know how to do the memory extraction spell?" Reluctantly, she admitted she didn't, but Draco stepped out from behind her, volunteering himself. She nodded. She trusted him.

Her boyfriend placed his wand against the Dark Lord's temple and she watched as a silvery trail was drawn out, falling into the pensieve in front of her. Its colours swirled and as the fog cleared she glanced at Draco, who silently nodded, before she took a deep breath and dove in.

* * *

The cries of a baby were the first thing Hermione heard as she dropped into the memory. In a traditional, wooden king size bed, the parents stirred. "I'll get her," the voice who'd just spoken to her said, pressing a kiss to the head of his seemingly completely normal brunette bedfellow. She smiled, enamoured, and rolled over. Voldemort, looking just as he did today, had reached the cot now and was about to pick up the wailing child when he spotted something through the curtains. A few single lights in the otherwise darkness of night. The type of single lights that she knew from experience came from a _lumos_ spell.

"Tom?" The woman was up now too, standing behind him, a trembling hand on his shoulder. "Merlin..." she exhaled, but he brushed her away, looking to his own arm, which didn't have the mark of his followers, leaving him with no way to contact them in this isolated area he'd created for family life. "Shush, shush," she cooed as she picked up the baby, looking out the window to the shadowy figures getting closer and closer. Voldemort placed a comforting hand on her arm, a sign of reassurance (a goodbye?) and then he left the room, casting a spell to lock her in, and also silencing the room. The jarring sound of the baby crying was replaced with an equally destructive crash as the attackers tried to break down the door below them. "You'll be safe," Voldemort mouthed, and then he hurried to the problem, dragging Hermione with him since this was his memory.

As they reached the bottom of the stairs the door crashed open and in burst a slew of familiar faces, a jab to the stomach. Her Uncle Sirius, Arthur, Dumbledore, Remus, and her fa- and James. "Give in Tom," her headmaster said. "You're defenceless, and far outnumbered."

Voldemort sneered, "I may not have my wand, but I am far from defenceless- _CONFRINGO_!" The area where several members of the Order were gathered exploded and as they rolled away from the chaos Voldemort started to cast another wandless spell but James Potter sent an attempted Killing Curse his way. " _LOCOMOTER MORTIS_!" Yelled Sirius from behind.

"There's nowhere for you to run," Said James. "We put up the anti-apparation charm."

"You think I haven't made precautions in my own residence," Voldemort chuckled, though it was short and detached. When the Order members realised what was going on a series of " _AVADA KEDAVRA_ "s were thrown at him, but proved fruitless as he disappeared, the green light almost brushing him.

They landed back at Malfoy Manor and for a moment Hermione thought they were done, but then she saw he younger looking Mr and Mrs Malfoy appear. "Tom!" Draco's mother, heavily pregnant, cried out as she saw him. Voldemort didn't waste any time, grabbing the wand he'd promised his wife he'd leave here for their weekend away. "What's wrong?"

"I need to get back," he said, his voice frazzled and cracked. "They're there. I need to save them. **Quickly.** " Draco's father nodded.

"Let's go then," he said. His wife kissed him quickly on the cheek and they were back at the house. The tone was very different. Hermione knew what had happened before they even went back inside, Mr Malfoy seemed to as well. Voldemort himself was in denial as he ordered his friend to search downstairs while he'd go straight up. Instead, Mr Malfoy joined Hermione as they raced behind the most evil wizard to ever live, up to his bedroom where the spell was broken. Lying crumpled up on the floor was the woman who'd seemed so... _alive_ earlier that night. "Sofia? Sofia!" His heart-wrenching scream tore apart Hermione's own empathetic heart. "I- I-" he glanced towards the cot and saw it was empty, gesturing Mr Malfoy to check it, unwilling to move himself from his position on the floor with his wife gathered up in his arms. His friend nodded and Voldemort's face collapsed into the limp shoulder he was holding, searching for comfort she couldn't give. At some point Mr Malfoy had left him to grieve and now it was just the two of them. "I swear to you Adele," he whispered in the now vacant room, his eyes fixed on the cot. "I will bring you home. And I will avenge your mother."

* * *

A new memory. A new night. A face burning with vengeance. "You don't have to do this alone."

"Of course I do."

They were back at Malfoy Manor. It was just Voldemort and Mr Malfoy this time. "We'll be here waiting when you're done then."

He nodded. "You're a true friend Lucius. Now it is time for me to go retrieve my daughter."

* * *

Godric's Hollow. She knew it from her textbooks. The place where Voldemort was defeated. Her history, as well as a vital part of the Wizarding World's. Voldemort paused for a moment, allowing her to take in the Tudor house where she'd spent a small portion of her life. Then he blew down the door. A man's voice from within shouted and as she followed the Dark Lord inside she saw her mother disappear up the stairs. " _AVADA KEDAVRA_!" Unlike the Order he didn't hesitate, a macabre smile twisting his features as James Potter crumbled. Not staying to gloat he moved swiftly up the stairs into the nursery where she saw her mother standing in front of both a baby her and Harry. And the baby her was clearly the same one she'd seen with the woman, Sofia, and Voldemort. "Step aside!" He roared. "Give me my daughter!"

"She's not yours she's mine!" Her mother, stubborn as ever, insisted. He outstretched his wand, and she wondered why he hadn't straight away like with James, why he'd given her the option to move, but the killing curse didn't hit her. Instead a man jumped in front of her, a man that was definitely not James Potter. "Severus? Severus!" She shrieked in the same voice Voldemort had used for his wife, but her eyes were fixed on the man himself. He was folding in on himself, collapsing into the shape she'd originally met this afternoon. She looked over to the 'baby her' but there was no clear sign she'd absorbed a part of her father's soul. If she hadn't glanced back she would have missed the figure that burst through the door, grabbing onto him and apparating away. It appeared Mr Malfoy hadn't followed instructions.

Falling back out of the pensieve into real life was like waking up from a nightmare into reality. The suffocating fog she had never before seen was finally clearing and she felt like she could breathe again. She glanced at Voldemort, who looked nervous. Much less confident than he had before, but she'd seen enough. She believed him. And she no longer believed her so called family.

 ** _Review!_**


	4. Baby, I'm a Fool

_**Chapter IV- Baby, I'm a Fool:**_

 _Guest (5/11): Yep! It's gonna get interesting now..._

Draco and his parents had left them alone for a while, allowing the newfound father and daughter duo to talk. Voldemort had told her he'd answer anything she wanted to know so she'd asked him about her mother. He told her that he'd met Sofia at Hogwarts. She'd been in Ravenclaw and he Slytherin so they hadn't ever interacted much. He said the first time he'd really noticed her was when they'd both been invited to the Slug Club, which Hermione proudly told him she was also a member of. It gave it so much more meaning to know that it had been a part of her parents. According to Voldemort, Sofia had told him how to create horcruxes, which he used to divide his soul so he could live forever. He wanted her to do it as well but she said she valued the frailty of human life, and he would never force her into something she didn't want to do. When he'd found her body he said it had been the one moment he'd regretted it. But only for that day, he promised, they'd had a great life together until it had been unfairly cut off, but she wouldn't want to extend it to a lifetime.

Sofia had been so happy when she was born, he told her, smiling earnestly, she'd had such dreams for her. Hermione told him about her life then, everything she'd accomplished and was set to. There was one thing bothering her though. "You said Draco and I were betrothed through some magical contract," she said slowly. "Does that mean it's not real? That it never has been?"

Voldemort saw her suffering immediately, no matter how well she tried to hide it, using the same techniques as her mother. "Oh my dear, no! Lily Potter," he spat out the name. "Has clearly not educated you in Pureblood matters." He touched her hand and she was surprised at the warmth that radiated throughout her. Her body seemed to recognise this as someone she should know, someone she _had_ known in fact. "The contract is merely that, a contract. It handles the legal side of things and serves as a way to bind families. Like an arranged marriage. Whatever feelings that arise are entirely your own." She nodded and with a wink, he took her hand. "Why don't we go talk to the man himself, and your in-laws?"

* * *

Lucien and Narcissa had just as much explaining to do to their son as their friend had to his daughter. Once he got past the fact that his girlfriend who he'd thought his parents would automatically loathe was actually the child of their best friend, he moved onto the topic of said dark wizard. "You've had him in this house for fifteen years?!" Draco exclaimed. "How?"

"You were never the sharpest tool in the shed," his father teased, but his ever-elegant mother whacked her husband about the head.

"I'm sorry sweetheart," she apologised. "But it was necessary to hide the truth from not just you, but everyone."

"Indeed it was," The three Malfoy's turned around to see the still somewhat weak Dark Lord, supported by his long-lost daughter. "But now I am back to most of my former strength, and I would like you both to be involved in my plans." The two teenagers nodded resolutely, Hermione for she was determined to get vengeance, Draco for he was adamant that he would at last be parry to the secrets concealed in the dark cobwebs of his family and society. Voldemort smiled. "Excellent."

* * *

Several hours of planning and feasting later Draco and Hermione had to return to Hogwarts. Everything and everyone there would be in a different light for her now.

She was disappointed that she wouldn't be able to tell everyone about Draco and be with him openly as she'd hoped she would, but it was for the best for her father's plan. It was stunning how quickly her mind had shifted the role of father from James Potter to Tom Riddle, but he'd opened up to her so completely and willingly. He'd shown her more in the last few hours than her mother had in sixteen, or rather, fifteen, years, and given her a wider picture of those around her as well rather than moulding her views to his own advantage. He hadn't hidden his mistakes, or all the awful things he'd done, but she was more willing to accept these than the foundation of lies she now knew her life had been built upon.

As they said goodbye to the three adults, Mrs Malfoy looked as though she might cry. She kissed Hermione daintily on each cheek, handed her a box of homemade brownies, apparently a hobby of hers, and told her, "do come and visit whenever you can get away from those stifling Order members, Adele dear."

Hermione nodded. "I will Mrs Malfoy, but, uh, I don't suppose you could call me Hermione?" Spotting her father's hurt look she quickly added. "It's a beautiful name, but to have grown up with one name and then to have to adjust to a new one, it's a little too much, with so much else to adjust to as well."

"Of course," Mrs Malfoy nodded, cocking her head to the side mischeviously. "But only if you'll call me Narcissa."

Hermione grinned. "I can agree to that deal." She moved over to her father and leaned up on her tiptoes to give his cheek a goodbye peck as well. "When this is all out in the open, I'd like to be known as Hermione Adele Riddle."

His stony expression wavered. "Just as poetic." She hugged him, feeling the tight way he held on to her as if someone would try to rip her away again, and then she took Narcissa's arm as Draco took his father's, vowing one last time that she would come visit again whenever she could.

* * *

When she got back to Gryffindor Tower after a reluctant parting with Draco everything looked somehow different. She didn't feel like she belonged here anymore, even less so than before.

She wasn't sure how long shed been sitting staring at the fire, lost in thought but when she heard her nickname called she turned to see her faux twin and his sidekick racing towards her. The sharp differences between her and Harry seemed even more pronounced now. "I can't believe you missed it-"

"That's what happens when you spend the whole of your free day at the book store," Ron scoffed, and her 'brother' didn't even defend her. In fact, he gave a small smirk at Ron's comment. But she gritted her teeth. Soon she would be able to acknowledge her real family; both biological and of her own making.

Harry shook her arm, trying to ensure he had her full attention. "Katie Bell was _imperius_ ed! Malfoy must have been behind it, I'm sure of it.

She raised a hand, and an eyebrow. How the hell did he come to that conclusion! "Slow down. Start from the beginning."

He nodded, though he looked disappointed she wasn't just going to join in with their hysteria. "Well, uh, we were walking back from Hogsmede behind her, and Katie was arguing with her friend while she was carrying this package. Then she dropped it or something, I'm not really sure, but it ripped open an-

"She flew right up into the air!" Ron declared. "It was bloody weird. Like something out of one of those stupid muggle thrillers Dad brings home for Ginny-"

"Oi!" The redhead shouted. She was one of a large crowd that had amassed around them to hear the sensationalised story straight from the sources. And now that they had a willing audience, the boys weren't going to disappoint.

"What happened next?"

"Who could have done it?"

Ron told the crowd to quiet down, as if he hadn't just been yelling to attract their attention. They both seemed to have forgotten that they'd come to inform their friend and instead had focussed on their audience. "It was all silent and her arms were spread out, her eyes sort of rolled back like she was possessed," the redhead told them, leaning forward like it was a ghost story. Everyone cried out for more. Hermione felt sick. _This was a girl._ A girl who'd suffered from idiotic curiosity, but nonetheless she'd suffered, and they were profiting off it.

"Then her mouth went really wide and she let out this terrible scream," Harry added. "Like I said. I'm sure it was Malfoy. He's the only one evil enough to do this. And we all know he comes from a bad lot." A bad lot? She couldn't believe everyone was just eating it up, but indeed, they were all nodding and sounding their agreement. She was sure he had the ability, probably the only one in the school beside her, but there was no way Draco would do this, besides, he had an alibi, a strong one. Her. But she couldn't exactly reveal that.

What she could say was that he had no proof, and so she did. Not that it put a dent in her brother's determination. When Harry thought he was right, she should know by now, there was little she could do to prove him wrong. He was a stubborn one alright.

* * *

When they met up in their classroom the next evening Hermione apologised on behalf of her 'friends' for what was being spread about him. Draco just shrugged it off. "As if I care what Pothead and the Weasel are saying about me." He kissed her hard, taking her breath away, but she frowned.

"It doesn't bother you at all?" Draco just shrugged again. "I mean, you're innocent. Doesn't it frustrate you in the slightest to know that-" He smothered her lips and she succumbed to it for a moment, then she looked up into his eyes. He didn't look into hers. Not quite. "Or are you?"

He sighed, stepping back a little and resting against their teacher's desk. "Your father asked me to do something for him." She nodded for him to elaborate, folding her arms over her chest. "He wanted me to _Imperius_ someone to go get a package and send it to him. He told me I couldn't go because they'd suspect me-"

"I defended you..." she put a hand to her head. Draco tried to reach out and take her hand but she shook him away. "I thought you were my family, both of you, but you lied to me, just like they did. You're no better!"

"Hermione-"

"Shut up!" She cried and hurried out of the room, glad he didn't follow her. He was certainly faster than her, could have if he wanted to. Her surroundings seemed to zip past her and when she finally stopped and leaned back against the wall her vision was swimming and she wasn't sure where she was. She'd been at this school for four and a half years. It was her home, and it was uncomfortable to realise she didn't recognise this area whatsoever. Just like the people in her life she didn't know it. She didn't know anything anymore. Her surroundings was empty, as was most of the castle at this time of night, or at least she thought so. After a few minutes of the world spinning around her she heard footsteps approaching accompanied by voices she couldn't yet make out, but they must be near, so she shrunk back into a passing place, leaning against the wall and hoping they didn't hear her.

As the words became audible she could tell they were talking about Katie Bell. And that 'they' were Dumbledore, Arthur Weasley, Remus Lupin and her uncle Sirius. "...a horcrux?" The familiar word her father had spoken today sent an attention grabbing jolt through her body and she strained to make out what came next. Lucky for her they were approaching rapidly, on a mission, it seemed.

"Yes," said Dumbledore. "It's in my office so we can destroy it."

Remus sounded uncertain as he spoke the truth they'd preached for years, "but he's dead... there's little point destroying them to kill him if he'd already gone."

"We never saw him killed," Arthur reminded him. "And Lily was upset that day. She wasn't paying attention. Who knows if he's still out there, recuperating-"

Sirius growled as he passed her and she shrunk back, not just from the fear of being caught but the shock at the viciousness in the usually playful voice, "and getting schoolchildren to collect his items so he truly can't be killed."

They turned a bend and their voices faded into the darkness, leaving Hermione even more confused than before. Why wouldn't her father just tell her if this was what he was doing? Didn't he trust her?

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	5. Stand There and Watch Me Burn

_**Chapter V- Stand there and Watch me Burn:**_

If anyone thought that the chasm between Hermione and Draco would have closed in two weeks they were sorely mistaken. Despite her worries that the Order suspected her father was back gathering his horcruxes and her desire to tell her boyfriend, she couldn't deny the betrayal she felt from him. Whilst her father had given her the job to act normal and deflect suspicion, it appeared Draco had been given much more to do. Maybe he even knew about the Order already. And so instead, to satiate her worries and stop herself from running back to him, she spent her time researching horcruxes in the restricted section of the library, after getting permission for extra research from Professor Slughorn. It was quite typical behaviour from Hermione, and so the boys didn't question it, but if she looked away from her books she might have questioned theirs. The fact that they were huddled together wasn't what was odd, but that they were whispering, and that their glances kept sneaking over to her. If she'd seen, perhaps she'd have been worried.

* * *

The boys always made her go watch their Quidditch matches and _of course_ this one was against Slytherin. As Hermione stood alone in the stands she couldn't seem to tear her eyes away from her boyfriend, if he still was that. She'd been ignoring him since the day she discovered who she truly was; sitting with her back to his table in the Great Hall, keeping her eyes on the professors in classes, chatting loudly to Harry and Ron as she walked past him in the hallways, but if she was being honest she'd expected him to make some sort of attempt at reconciliation. The two of them often clashed, but he was always the first one to make amends, and in this case he rightly should be. At least if anyone noticed her staring they'd just assume she was watching her brother, he and Draco were locked in a battle of wits… or lack thereof. She cast her gaze over to Ron momentarily, both to ease the stab she felt in her stomach and any suspicions, and saw that his eyes were already on her. As soon as they locked gazes he withdrew his and seemed to try to stand taller, although he was sitting on a broom, deflecting a quaffle that flew towards him with a triumphant grin and glancing back at her. Diligently she clapped, but wished it had been long enough to look back at the duelling duo. At least she understood their brand of crazy.

* * *

"DRINK, DRINK, DRINK, DRINK- WOO!" Everyone whooped with delight as Ron threw back the drinks that had somehow made their way into the victory party. Knowing his bias, she doubted Dumbledore would care even if he knew. "Hey," Harry greeted her, offering a cup, which she rejected. "You haven't congratulated me on the win yet."

"I'll congratulate you when you finally win by skill rather than luck," Hermione teased, although the truth to her words almost nicked his skin. Whenever they played Slytherin Harry was always too preoccupied with beating Draco, and vice versa, to pay attention to the snitch. Take today for example. The golden ball had seemingly tired of waiting around and flown over their heads in a cry for attention, causing both bodies to jerk away from their game of insults. They'd chased after it and Draco had had it within his reach when it changed direction and practically flew into Harry's hands, all he'd had to do was close them.

Harry didn't respond, his attention had waned to focus on some exhibitionists devouring each other's' mouths- hold on a minute. "Lavender Brown! Good on Ron!" Harry chuckled and let out a wolf whistle of encouragement. She was about to roll her eyes when the redhead's eyes opened and fixed on her, a smirk playing at his lips. She frowned. No. There was no way. They stayed open. Yes way. He was trying to make her jealous! Feeling a headache coming on, Hermione turned and pushed past the crowds out of the portrait into the quiet outside corridors where she could think without any distractions. She was angry with her father and Draco, but she still had every intention to make the Order pay for what they'd done to her and her family. What would be the best way to handle this development? Should she just brush him off? Should she pretend to date him to further gain their trust? But what if it went too far? She had no petty aim to use Ron to make her boyfriend jealous, from what she'd seen a couple of minutes ago his kissing wouldn't be particularly worth it anyway.

"'Mione?" The portrait opened again and the object of her confusion emerged, hair ruffled and clothes rumpled. "Everything alright?"

She nodded. "I just needed some air."

He smiled, and it made her a little nervous for some reason. It wasn't the usual empty headed one he gave, it was the smile of someone who wanted something and was adamant they would get it. "I made you jealous, huh?" She furrowed her eyebrows but he laughed. "You don't have to deny it! Lavender's hot, but I like _you_." What was the correct response to that? Thanks? And I you? Ron bit his lip and then he darted forwards and crashed into her lips. Her eyes flew open as she registered the slobbery, liquor tinged, unwanted kiss she was receiving. She shifted uncomfortably and tried to raise her hands to push him back and let him know this wasn't what she wanted but he only seemed to take that as an absurd sign of enjoyment and, moaning with the satisfaction of something long awaited, locked on tighter, pushing her back. It ended unexpectedly with the outraged shout of a familiar voice, ripping her out of Ron's arms and fastening his own grip on her wrist, pushing her behind him. "What the fuck is wrong with you Weasel?" He glared. "The name has never been more apt." For a moment Ron looked confused at the abrupt loss but then that look shifted to fury.

"Let go of her Malfoy!"

"What? And give her back to you?" He scoffed. "I think she's much safer over here."

"Hermione!" Ron appealed in a high, outraged tone but she shook her head, her voice coming out more croaky than she would have liked.

"I'll talk to you when you're no longer intoxicated Ronald." She tried to put on a defiant mask that embodied the house she'd been sorted into. "For now I'm happier here." Ron scowled but reluctantly headed back into the common room, although she had a suspicion he might not heed her words and instead would return with backup. As soon as he had disappeared Draco turned around to face her, scanning her body for bruises or scars.

"Are you okay? I should have bashed that fucker's head in the moment I saw him-" he paused as she put her hands on his chin, looking deep into his eyes, conveying her feelings as clearly as she could.

"Thank you."

He exhaled shakily and she realised he was more stirred than she was. "I should have just apologised straight away."

"Why didn't you?" Hermione asked.

"Your father." She raised an eyebrow in question and he shook his head regretfully. "I sent to my mother, asking her to ask him what to do about this whole situation, since he is your father after all, and he recommended I give you some space." She let out a giggle and a tiny smile played at his features when he saw it. "My mother said I shouldn't do it..."

"You should listen to her in future!" Hermione teased, taking his hand and smiling. She kissed him on the cheek and started to bade goodbye, but he was unimpressed by that plan.

Reaching out for her hand to pull her back, he objected "You're just going to race right back into the lions' den?"

"You want to drag me down to the snake pit I presume?" He frowned, realising she was right and that wasn't an option. The truth was that no matter how badly she might want to just run away she had to stay and sort this situation out. She had to keep fooling the Order. It wouldn't be for long, she told herself, and Draco, hopefully. Soon they'd be able to be together whenever they wanted.

* * *

Despite Draco's protestations Hermione offered Ron her complete forgiveness, albeit not entirely genuinely. He did truly seem remorseful though, which at least gave her pause. She invited him to Slughorn's annual Christmas party as a sign of good faith, thinking it would help to slowly suggest that she was developing feelings for him, without seeming out of character. The week before the party though, she saw him pouring something into a drink and hid herself in the crowds of the common room. When Harry appeared from the other side of the room the redhead looked up guiltily and she decided to make her presence known, announcing herself to the boys as she relaxed into the sofa. She wanted to switch the drinks but instead of being immersed in discussion with her brother as usual, Ron's eyes were locked on her. New tactic. She smiled alluringly, fluttering her lashes and he gazed into them like the lovesick fool he was, enabling her to inch the drink he'd offered her forwards and snatch up the one he'd poured for himself. Once he'd seen her take a gulp Ron seemed satisfied and took a long sip as well. She watched, tense, to see what effect it would have, as Harry blabbered on, unaware of neither Ron's failed nor her successful plan.

At last her brother's riveting tale of how he'd recruited Seamus Finnegan to the Quidditch team to replace Katie Bell, who was still unable to play, was interrupted by Ron leaping up from his seat and snatching a mirror from several Third Year girls who were trying out new hairstyles, to a cacophony of shrill dissent. A satisfied leer came onto his face as he smoothed back his hair, gazing in wonder at himself in the mirror. "Bloody hell, you're gorgeous!" He practically sang to his reflection. "Your eyes- no! Your hair- no!" Hermione joined in the horrified giggles, relishing in the jeers sent his way as he tried to decide which part of his body was the most godlike. Perhaps he'd die staring at his reflection like Narcissus in the myths. As Harry took his arm, gently guiding him back to their room though, with ashamed whispers that he was embarrassing himself, she swore that as soon as the truth was out she'd punch him harder than she had Draco in Third Year.

 ** _AN: Thank you so much for all the reviews,favourites and follows so far. Please keep the support coming so I know people are still reading and enjoying! Haha_**


	6. Extraordinarily Merry Christmas

_**Chapter VI- Extraordinarily Merry Christmas:**_

 _ **Guest: Cause they think he looks like one haha**_

 _ **AN: Thank you guys so much for 100 follows! It's basically Christmas... so here's your present in return ;)**_

Hermione didn't tell Draco about Ron's failed plan; no harm had been done and she knew it would just send him into a blind rage that would ruin their plans. Instead she continued to covertly flirt with the redhead, placing a hand on his knee or smiling up at him for a little too long. Harry seemed to notice the shift in their relationship and nudged his friend the day of the Christmas party, in Potions, seemingly forgetting that Hermione was stood at the table behind them. "Everything seems to be working out for you mate. I take it it worked." She furrowed her eyebrow in confusion momentarily but then as the realisation hit her, red flashed in front of her eyes. Ron hadn't looked guilty when Harry walked over that night because he thought he'd been caught, it was because her brother had been the one who'd given it to him, and seeing him had triggered those feelings. Some brother he was, offering drugs to manipulate his sister's emotions and relationships. She'd thought at first that perhaps it was just the elder generation that should suffer but now she understood that they were all the same. The Order were cruel and manipulative and destructive, and none of them would get out of this without being force fed their just desserts. Her fist closing around the pestle she channelled her anger into grinding the moonstone into a powder for the calming draught she ought to be using on herself.

* * *

Sitting in between Ron and McLaggen, who were trying to outdo each other, was arduous. She wished Draco were here. He should be, honestly. He was second only to her in their year and probably should have gotten the spot Harry had simply for being James Potter's son... but he was the son of a known Death Eater. The only Slytherin in the Slug Club was Blaise Zabini and that was because his parents had been in Italy during the war, although Hermione had it on good authority he was on their side these days.

As McLaggen started to explain in painstakingly vivid detail his morning routine Hermione silently excused herself to grab another drink, not that anyone noticed; not her date, nor her brother, nor their teacher. Pouring it out at the side table she gazed out the windows and frowned when she thought she saw the curtain shift a little. A quick glance back towards the table ascertained that everyone was either entranced (the majority) or disgusted (Harry and Ron) by McLaggen, but none of them were looking her way. She reached a hand behind the curtain and jabbed the thin air, evoking an almost inaudible gasp. "What are you doing here?" She hissed under her breath. "And seriously, you stole Harry's cloak?"

Her mother had given Harry James's school time invisibility cloak on their eleventh birthday, paired with a secret map from Sirius that the friends, who'd called themselves the Marauders, had used. At first the three of them had been on a few adventures together but Hermione hadn't been too thrilled with breaking the rules and being rewarded with the possibility of a detention if they got caught. Besides, she was pretty sure the two boys didn't even fit in there alone anymore. But still, if Draco had stolen the cloak it meant he'd had to have broken into Gryffindor Tower and- "I didn't steal it," her boyfriend whispered. She had to listen hard in the uproar that came from the table at McLaggen's diet tips. "My father gave me one for Christmas last year." It was odd talking to thin air, but she could imagine the superior expression on his face as he told her she was wrong.

"And why are you here?" She repeated her first question, aware that he'd dodged it. "Jealous?"

He scoffed but luckily Ron did at that moment too. "To be jealous of the weasel I'd have to be pretty damn insecure. Malfoys are not insecure." His tone shifted then though. "I was worried, and Blaise told me Slughorn allows you lot alcohol at these things." She bit her lip, wanting to reach out and squeeze his hand. Instead she took a sip of her drink and glanced back over to the table to make sure she wasn't being missed. "I don't like this."

"Me neither," she sighed against her glass. "But tell you what, I'll let you get in a curse or two before I do the honours."

He chuckled darkly. "You always know what to say to reassure me, love." Her heart fluttered at the pet name and she smiled.

"That's because I know _you._ "

* * *

Sneaking away to the Malfoys's for a day during the Christmas break was easier than she would have imagined. All Hermione had to do was tell her mother that she wanted to take the train up a historical wizarding landmark for extra research and Lily readily agreed, brushing her off as she fussed around her biological child, declaring how much she'd missed- them both! Hermione mentally rolled her eyes.

* * *

The agreed upon date finally rolled around after a few tedious days at home, she'd passed the time genuinely working since she suspected she'd be too busy today. Harry and their mother were going to visit Sirius but they dropped her off at King's Cross, where she'd arranged to meet Narcissa. As she left to head into enemy territory Lily snatched her hand and she paused, turning around to face her. "Are you alright sweetheart? You've been acting a little... off." She nodded brusquely and the redhead sighed, accepting it as teenage hormones and dropping the hand. Hermione sucked in her lip as she walked away. She hadn't known she'd been making her disdain so clear, she'd have to be more careful. It was just difficult. At least before it had only been a suspicion that her mother didn't love her as much as her golden boy. Now she knew she was just a ward, to be kept away from the people she truly belonged with, to restrict them.

* * *

Narcissa was waiting beside platform 9 3/4. A smile bloomed on her face when she saw Hermione and she embraced the younger witch, barely keeping from calling her Adele, as she told her how lovely it was to see her again and how moody Draco had been around the house without her. Hermione beamed right back and then followed Narcissa's to a quieter area away from the hustle and bustle where they apparated to the Manor.

"Hermione!" She was caught quite off guard as her father, who'd evidently been nervously waiting for some time, leapt from his chair and embraced her. He looked much more alive somehow, as if he'd been bouncing around the Manor rather than locked in that dreary room.

"Presents?" Suggested Narcissa enthusiastically and she guided them over to where Draco and his father sat waiting by a magnificent looking tree, far larger and more grandly decorated than either the one that adorned her own living room, or the one squashed into the corner at the Burrow. A house elf appeared, offering her a plate of macaroons. She gratefully accepted a pink one, noting that the house elf in question looked quite festive, which would have surprised her back when she believed everything her family had told her about how Purebloods treated their slaves.

It wasn't a scramble for presents like at the Burrow every year; they watched each other, revelling in the delight on their faces, or in Lucius's case when he saw his present from Draco; socks that were enchanted to sing Christmas carols at a pitch only just audible to the human ear, abject horror.

Hermione got an early release signed set of her most anticipated novel series of the year from Lucius (she kissed him on the cheek for that, causing him to flush fuschia) and a gorgeous grey ball gown with a tulle skirt and a sheer bodice, embellished with sparkling silver beading from Narcissa. She held the material against herself in wonder, never having been one for beautiful clothes, but then, she'd never been given anything like this. The only clothes she ever received at Christmas were Molly's initial decorated jumpers. Her father had looked nervous after her ecstatic reaction to the first two presents but tentatively offered her a small wrapped gift anyway. She smiled up at him as she pulled off the paper, already prepared to gush and praise no matter the gift, but in fact she was speechless. Removing the paper revealed an intricately carved wooden box, a swan on the top, intertwined with a pattern of roses and thorns. "It was your mother's," Voldemort told her in a hoarse voice, clearing his throat before speaking again. "Her family's symbol was a swan." Was. She was the last one. He'd told her that last time. "Look inside." She'd been tracing her hand along it careful not to cause a scratch, knowing she was touching something that had belonged to the woman that gave her life, but slowly she opened the lid, unleashing a swan inside that sprung up and slowly spun around to a hauntingly peaceful tune, accompanied by a melodic voice. "She used to sing that lullaby to you every night." Tears filled both their eyes as an image of the woman from the pensieve flashed behind hers. She took her father's hand and squeezed it in thanks, as a house elf declared "dinner is ready!" And they all laughed, sounds of pain laced but content at last souls.

* * *

Hermione couldn't keep the smile off her face as they ate Christmas dinner, and not just because of all the delicious food. She'd thought this would be much more of a formal affair but apparently that was their annual New Year's ball. This was just a more refined less squashed version of her 'Order' Christmases at the Burrow- they even used the same wizarding joke shop Christmas crackers! When the house elves brought out the dessert options though, the tone changed. Her father wanted to discuss the progress they'd all made. He admitted to what he'd been doing with the horcruxes behind her back and she agreed to forgive him, but only because they were having such a lovely day. If he tried to exclude her again there would be hell to pay.

He smirked at that. "That's my daughter." And she couldn't help the pleased matching expression that swept across her face, ducking her head in a vain attempt to hide the blush as she cut herself a slice of the decadent looking Yule Log.

"How long will it be until you have them all?" She asked as Draco squeezed her hand under the table from her other side. She wanted to be here, not with the Order. She wanted to dance on her boyfriend's arm in the dress Narcissa had gotten her on New Year's Eve. She wanted to embrace her true family for the whole world to see. She wanted to make the people who'd killed her mother suffer.

"Well I have _you_ my angel," he touched her cheek then nodded towards his friend. "Lucius collected my diary and my grandfather's ring. And we finally acquired Slytherin's necklace, after a little detour." He looked pointedly at Draco, who shrugged and Hermione covered her mouth to stifle a little giggle.

"So what's left?" She asked eagerly, already envisioning a future where she was free. It was so close she could feel the winds of freedom whipping at her hair.

He leaned forward conspiratorially, although it was just the five of them in the room. "Well, Hufflepuff's cup is safe and sound inside Narcissa's sister Gringott's vault until we can free her, and I'd like you to get Ravenclaw's diadem."

She tilted her head, unsure she'd heard him right. "Me?"

He chuckled and chucked her under the chin, her wide eyes staring up at him like she was still the child he'd never gotten to know. "Yes, you! You're my greatest asset." She blushed a little, then listened as he detailed his task for her.

* * *

"Hermione!" She spun around in the stairwell to see Draco behind her, his hands behind his back. "We got drawn away to dinner. I never got to give you your Christmas present earlier. Close your eyes." She tipped her head, a teasing smile on her face, a mild challenge, and he smirked back. With an exaggerated sigh she consented and felt him move behind her. Then his hand was at her hair, moving it sensually to the side, his fingers drawing slowly through it. A chill hit her bare neck and she shivered but in an instant she was burning up. Warm lips massaged her neck and she wanted to turn and catch them with her own but they whispered against her skin "don't open your eyes. _No. Matter. What_." She exhaled slowly. Cool metal grazed her neck and a small 'click' was audible as he fastened the clasp around her neck. "Open," he purred and she looked down, her heart pumping with anticipation. Around her neck was a simple silver chain, but on her breast lay a loop of stunning craftsmanship. She fingered it, entranced by the glittering diamond on it, even though she wasn't usually one for jewellery. "My father gave it to my mother when he proposed to her." That word caught her off guard and she stumbled back a little. He opened his mouth and then shut it. "Oh! I- I didn't mean- I'm not proposing-"

"That's a relief," she bit her lip, looking down awkwardly. It felt like she'd ruined the moment. But then he put a finger on her chin and raised it so she was forced to meet his eyes.

"It's not a proposal of marriage, it's a promise that I only want to be with you. It's a symbol of what I hope is to come. Because I know that we're forever. There's no-one else I'd want to have this, so you might as well have it now." She felt tears pooling in her eyes and blinked them back, placing a hand on his cheek as she smiled up at him and he down at her, looking more pleased with this reaction.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I know I sounded a little... horrified. You should know it's not you, cliché as it may sound, it's me." He raised an eyebrow and she continued unapologetically. "Whether I'm Hermione Potter, or Hermione Riddle, or... whoever I am... I want to get to be that. I want to make my own mark on the world and be remembered for me. I can't just be Hermione Malfoy, society of wife of a high up Ministry official. I won't."

He chuckled. "Nor would I want you to be." He took her hand, tracing a pattern on it as he held it close to their sides. "If I wanted one of them I'd be with Pansy Parkinson, or Daphne Greenglass. You can keep your own name forever, or hyphen it, or make me take yours!" He raised the hand he was holding and kissed it slowly, maintaining eye contact the whole time. "Doesn't mean I'm giving up on a big white wedding one day though."

 ** _Review!_**


	7. Eye for an Eye

**_Chapter VII- Eye for an Eye:_**

When she arrived back at school Hermione had hoped to meet up with Draco as soon as physically possible to get the diadem, but the boys were being suspiciously clingy. They had been hanging around her the whole of the first day right up until their curfew, meaning she hadn't been able to talk to her boyfriend at all about when they should meet up to go the hidden room. She knew Draco would want her to wait until they could go together, he was worried it would be dangerous like the locket or that something else in the room would be... but she couldn't just wait endlessly until there was a chance. This was her opportunity; to prove herself to her father, to speed up their journey to being able to publicly be together. Once she knew all the girls in her dorm were asleep she snuck into the boys' dorm- she'd offered all her year a welcome back toast laced with sleeping potion earlier that evening. Neither her roommates nor the boys would be waking up anytime soon. She _accio'd_ her brother's cloak and the Marauder's Map, quickly checking it to reveal that Filch was on the other side of the castle and the Hufflepuffs patrolling the corridors were several floors away, before enveloping herself in shadow and sneaking out of the tower.

* * *

She made it all the way to the seventh floor without incident and was beginning to think that perhaps her father should have given her a more difficult task when she heard the sound of pacing footsteps just ahead and pressed herself to the wall. Those weren't Filch's meandering feet, neither was it the pair of sixth year prefects. It was the sound of someone on a mission. Someone like her. The footsteps stopped and she peered around the corner to see just what was going on. Stood, aggravated, was someone she never would have expected to see here. Not in a million years. Ginny Weasley. The Order had employed _her_ to find the horcrux. Hermione couldn't believe it- which was of course why they'd done it. She'd expected Dumbledore to be looking, or if they were sending their children in then Harry or Ron. But Ginny? She was fourteen- and she'd never shown an interest in fighting the Dark, or even seemed to suspect anything was wrong. Her life seemed bright and full of Quidditch, Witch Weekly and crushing on boys who'd never notice her existence. The redhead marched back and forth again, this time speaking out loud- "I need to find the diadem of Ravenclaw", but still it didn't work. Letting out a growl the younger girl flew past Hermione in a flurry of frustration, turning the opposite way she herself had come, probably to go report back to Dumbledore that it hadn't worked. Taking up her place in the corridor, Hermione shut her eyes in concentration. So just asking for the room where it was hidden wasn't going to work. What was the next logical step then? Well, how had her father gotten into the room? He'd been looking for somewhere to hide something, surely that had been his mindset as he paced here decades ago. _I need a place to hide something, I need a place to hide something, I need a place to hide something,_ she thought with a singular, focussed intent as she paced back and forth in the corridor. On her third trip a huge door materialised where there had been a plain wall before and her eyes widened as she gazed up at it, stunned it had been so easy. Before Ginny could reappear Hermione hurried into the room, shutting the door behind her.

On the other side was an overwhelmingly large room, more like a warehouse really, filled in every corner with all manner of magical objects. This was certainly an excellent place to hide something. If she didn't have her magic it might have taken her years to find the diadem, and that was without stopping to examine every intriguing object in here like the Ravenclaw in her was begging out to do in order to be satiated. Thankfully, she did. _Accio_ was turning out to be a very useful spell today.

" _Accio_ diadem!" Her voice echoed back to her and a sinking feeling pooled in her stomach as she panicked that she'd gotten it wrong. This was the wrong room. She'd have to report a failure as well. Then she heard a rattle. Instantly her eyes shot over to what looked like miles away, where a tower of objects collapsed and a shimmering shape flew towards her like a boomerang, landing in her hands.

It was dusty and a little discoloured but a quick swipe with her sleeves revealed a glittering blue sapphire framed by the engraving 'Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure', a saying she surely agreed with. She'd read about this. It had been Rowena Ravenclaw's before her envious daughter had stolen and hidden it, and it had remained lost until her father charmed it out of Helena's spirit when he was still at school and turned it into a horcrux. It was said to enhance the wisdom of the one wearing it, and Hermione couldn't help herself. Just this once, she had to let her curiosity win out. Throwing back her hood, she was about to place the tiara on her head when a jeer came from behind her, "the Dark Princess finally gets her crown", and the cloak was yanked away from her, leaving her visible to the naked eye. She reached down for the wand in her boot as she spun around but her adversary was already crying out _"expelliarmus!"_ , sending Hermione's wand flying across the warehouse. She stepped back, although there was no way she could reach it without being cursed herself beforehand. She could try a nonverbal, but they were notoriously difficult and she'd only had time to practise one or two to perfection, her preferred way of casting spells. Perhaps it was time to talk her down.

"You caught me," Hermione admitted as her assailant advanced, stepping back herself. Maybe she could get to her wand.

"Disgusting Death Eater whore," she spat. "I always knew there was something off about you, but how could you turn against your family for _them_?"

Hermione scoffed. "Family? That would imply some degree of love, compassion, acceptance. Things I've never really been given." She changed direction as naturally as she could, inching back towards where her wand had flown. "But what about _you_? You had me fooled. I thought you were just a boy-crazy idiotic little girl."

Ginny laughed. "You underestimated me. All of you. Dumbledore's the only one who saw the potential in me. That's why he gave this mission to me, not you, or your brother, or mine." She could feel the jealousy radiating off the younger girl, but now wasn't the time for a counselling session. Just a few more feet.

"You know why I think he gave you that role?" Hermione kept her eyes on the redhead, trying not to clue her in to the fact that she was so close to being able to _obliviate_ her. "Because you're so inconsequential a player that he knew no-one would even notice when you were gone." She glanced to the wand and the other girl did too. Just as she dove for it Ginny Weasley set fire to the room.

It was a wooden shelf next to her wand first, but it was _fiendfyre._ It spread faster than the Great Fire of London had and her wand was on fire in seconds. Cursing, Hermione had to give up on it and started to race for the door instead. As the fire raged, at first Ginny tried to curse her but quickly the other girl realised she'd made a mistake and followed her towards the door. They were a long way off though and when she heard a shriek of despair behind her, Hermione glanced back to see Ginny trapped by fallen shelves, crying out for her help. For a moment she glanced back and forth between her and the door and then she shook her head and raced to safety, not stopping until she'd slammed the door shut behind her and sank down against the wall, the space opposite her where there'd been a door now as empty as if it had never existed, as if Ginny Weasley wasn't in there dying right now.

She looked down in her arms to see the diadem crumbling to pieces in her hands. A piece of her father's soul shattered. She hadn't been able to save it. A gut wrenching sob unleashed itself from her throat and she looked up with wet eyes to see the architect of her destruction mouthing her name.

* * *

Sitting with her hands clasped around her knees, her eyes still red-rimmed, drinking a mug of something warm and comforting, Hermione had recounted the story to Dumbledore. 'Story' because that's what it was. But she was creative, and she'd been good at writing when she was younger.

In the middle of the night she'd come downstairs to get the notes she'd left in the common room, she'd told him. She'd seen that the portrait door was slightly ajar though and seen it her duty as a prefect to go find whoever had snuck out. Luckily, Harry had left his map on the table so she'd taken it- imagine her surprise when she'd seen it had said Ginny Weasley. So she'd hurried up to the seventh floor and seen an open door in the corridor that had never been there before. Amazed, she'd gone inside and found Ginny holding a strange crown thing in one hand and battling a mythical creature with the other. The younger girl had begun to attack it with fire, which quickly got out of control. Seeing Hermione, she threw her the diadem and told her to save herself and take it to the headmaster. Hermione had tried to save her but the flames were spreading quickly and by the time she'd have gotten there Ginny would have already been dead, so instead she'd found her way out. "I'm so sorry that thing got ruined, Headmaster," she snivelled, breathless at the horror of it all. "It must have been important, and now Ginny died for nothing!"

"Ginny Weasley was a hero," Dumbledore reassured her, putting a hand on her shoulder. "And she did not die for _nothing_ , but to stop a great evil." Hermione looked at him with her most confused face and he sighed, patting her shoulder before he left the room to go inform the family, who he'd called after it had happened. As she listened in, she couldn't help the grim satisfaction that had at least come with her failure.

 _An eye for an eye,_ as the old saying went.


	8. You Can Play My Partner in Crime

**_Chapter VIII- You Can Play My Partner in Crime:_**

Almost two arduous months passed after Ginny's death and subsequent funeral where Hermione heard nothing from her father. She maintained her cover, sobbing about her lost childhood companion and comforting her faux boyfriend and brother... but she was struggling. He'd given her one job, and Hermione had failed to complete it, instead destroying a part of her father's soul. He must be furious with her, and he certainly wouldn't be entrusting her with any serious tasks anytime soon. It didn't help that she hadn't been able to speak to Draco to gain some emotional support. Of course she'd seen him around school, but it had been too dangerous to sneak out with a suspicious Dumbledore's increased security after what happened that night, and during the day the boys were suffocating her even more than they had been before. The whole of her house was, actually. Banding together to comfort each other and honour the loss of another Gryffindor hero, although Dumbledore hadn't actually told any of them what had happened so they were just taking his word on the 'blameless', tragic circumstances of her death.

By March Hermione had concluded that she'd been abandoned, and fairly so, when she sat down in Ancient Runes, opened her book and found a note inside. Luckily, this was one of the only spaces she had free from Harry and Ron so she could read it free from worry of any infringement on her privacy. Still though, something made her turn to check no-one was watching. Everyone was getting their materials out, everyone except Draco's friend Zabini. He dropped his gaze as soon as she looked over, which was odd in itself for his usually confident bordering on cocky self. He was at the other end of the classroom though, there was no way he'd be able to read the note from over there. Fingers shaking a little, she unfolded the note and read it, expecting some lengthy letter telling her what was going on but all she got was five unimpressive words.

 ** _Saturday. Outside the Hog's Head._**

And then the note crumbled itself up and there was a pile of unintelligible paper left on her book. Sweeping it to the side, she turned to the directed page with the hint of a smile on her face. This weekend she'd finally get to see Draco again.

* * *

 _'Going to the bookshop'_ was always the best way to lose the boys. She made sure to tell them she could be there for hours. They nodded dismissively and waved her off as they headed into Honeydukes. Pulling her cloak hood up over her head, she took the side road that led down to the pub less frequented by Hogwarts students. She'd never been here, in fact. She'd always been warned against it. As she got closer she could tell why. Whereas the Three Broomsticks was tight in a clean, cosy way, the Hog's Head looked dingy and claustrophobic even from the outside. Unable to stop herself, she went up to the dirty window and peered in to see an interior that reflected the grimy walls. She barely had time to take it in before a hand on her arm made her turn around, excited, but instead of interlaced fingers, an object was pressed into her hand, giddiness and nausea overwhelming her as she fell, landing on the ground in a heap in an entirely different location. "Oof!" She cried as she stumbled to her feet, ripping back the hood of her assailant to see Zabini himself. "What the hell?" She hissed at him.

"Look Granger," The Italian rolled his eyes. "Don't get your knickers in a twist, at least not before I've explained what's going on."

"You kidnapped me!" Hermione pointed out stubbornly, but she folded her arms over chest and reluctantly nodded anyway.

He gave her a mocking, gracious little bow and then explained that he knew who she really was. "I'd noticed Draco sneaking around even more than usual lately so one night just before the Christmas holidays I followed him-"

"What a trusting friend you are," she observed dryly.

He shrugged. "I think you're confusing me for a Hufflepuff, cara. Anyway," he continued. "Imagine my surprise when I stumbled across the two of you locked in an ardent embrace, arms locked around each other, his ere-"

"Yes I know what kissing is," she interrupted. "Get on with it!"

Smirking at her suddenly red cheeks he continued. "As any good Slytherin knows, the pillowtalk is when all the secrets come out, so I waited patiently-"

She scoffed. "I'm sure!"

"Who's holding up the story now?" God he reminded her of Draco before they started dating. Were all Slytherins this bad? Maybe it was a good thing she'd been sorted into Gryffindor after all. "So after you'd finished your ' _sette minuiti in paradiso_ '" having learnt Italian over the summer, she flicked him a backwards V. "I listened as Draco promised you that your father would 'make them all pay soon' and he'd gladly help. You said you were nervous it was taking so long and he told you that the Dark Lord isn't the type of man to give up or fail on his vengeance." She remembered that conversation, and it _was_ undeniably damning evidence. "After you'd gone I revealed myself to him. He was pretty confrontational," Zabini grinned at her. "He loves you." It made her tingle, even though she already knew it. Having it reaffirmed by someone on the outside...it just made it even more real. "And I was a little scared he'd kill me and bury the body with his own hands to protect your secret, but thankfully for the good of womankind I managed to persuade him otherwise." She raised an eyebrow and for the first time his tone was serious. "We may be serpents, but we're loyal to our own. He's my friend, and you're one of us now too." He dug into his cloak, pulled out a bottle and handed it to her. "Polyjuice potion," he offered as explanation. "Hufflepuff's cup is still within his aunt's Gringotts vault. Draco was supposed to go with you disguised as Order members to acquire it but Dumbledore's keeping a pretty strict watch on all Death Eaters's children. Bigoted prick," he said under his breath. "Though in this case he's right." She smiled and he caught it before she could wipe it off her face, matching it with one of his own. "So what do you say, bellissima? Willing to take a chance on a different partner in crime today?"

* * *

Hermione peered at her reflection in the shop window; the lustrous dark red hair, the distinctive green eyes. She truly was beautiful. "Come on!" Zabini, or Sirius, as he currently appeared to be, grabbed a fistful of her cloak and yanked her along behind him.

When they entered the bank a goblin scuttled over, bowing his head respectfully. "Mr Black, Mrs Potter, would you like access to your vaults?"

"Not today," 'Sirius' leant in conspiratorially. "Dumbledore sent us to retrieve something from the Lestrange vault."

The goblin nodded brusquely, gesturing a human guard who held some type of device over. "If you don't mind though, we have a new policy to detect concealment charms- suggested by Dumbledore himself actually." Zabini nodded, although Hermione could sense his tension. "That alright?"

"Of course," She offered a gentile smile, but the goblin wasn't looking anyway, busy thumbing through some sort of guide. She'd only relatively recently started learning non-verbal spells, but what better time than the present to practise one on a real life target. _Confundo_ , she thought with a singular focused intent as the guard raised his probe. His eyes glazed over and the probe dropped to his side as he glanced around confused for a moment before heading back over to where he'd appeared from. Zabini flashed her an impressed look and she granted herself a small victorious smirk before clearing her throat.

"Right," The goblin looked up, saw they were done and waddled off, gesturing for them to follow him. "Off we go then."

* * *

As the goblin placed his hand on the vault to unlock it and tamed away the dragon guarding it she couldn't help but think they'd done this the right way. She wasn't exactly in the mood for a dragon duel. "I'll be waiting here when you're done." They thanked the goblin and stepped into the vault, piled high with treasure, so much shimmering gold it made her eyes hurt.

" _Acc_ -" Hermione started but Zabini stopped her wand hand.

"I wouldn't. Draco's Aunt Bella's a pretty crazy woman. I wouldn't put it past her to set up some defence mechanisms. I think we're best off doing this the old fashioned way- and very carefully, at that." They searched the vault without touching anything, or finding anything, and Hermione was about to suggest they try magic despite the risk when Zabini declared at a ridiculous volume "found it!" She rushed around a pile of treasure twice his size that was blocking their view of each other to see him eyeing it carefully. "If I just-" slowly he tried to inch it out, and the treasure above it began to duplicate. They exchanged a worried glance.

"Just pull it out," she suggested. He did, and the treasure began to double at a faster and faster volume, filling the room with it, quickly blocking their exits. To make matters worse it set on fire.

"Fuck!" Zabini swore and grabbed her arm with one hand, the other gripping the cup. They stumbled over the gold, tripping over it at a speed like they were running in water as a wall of flames quickly began to surround them. Hermione felt herself breathing heavily as she remembered the night in the room of requirement as the flames engulfed Ginny. She hadn't liked her, but she had grown up with her. And now she was going to die the same way. Karma, she supposed.

Zabini was shooting spell after spell but they weren't working on the prior enchantments set up. Hermione clenched her eyes as the treasure looked like it would immerse them. She'd never been claustrophobic before, but she supposed anyone would be when when they were about to be smothered to death in gold. She reached out a hand to the wall to steady her but opened her mouth in a stunned rather than pained "oh!" when she felt a pin prick her flesh. Suddenly the gold retreated back and within two seconds it was back to its original volume, all the fires extinguished. Zabini's eyes were as wide as saucers. "What the-"

"I don't," She stopped herself, staring at the blood trickling down her palm. "Actually, I do. I think it recognised my blood and no longer saw me as an intruder."

"I don't care how it worked!" Blaise declared, picking her up and spinning her around as she let out first a shriek then uncontrollable laughter. "We're alive!" He put her down with a celebratory kiss on the cheek and she realised that, just like she had Draco, she was warming up to him.

* * *

After they left Gringotts they used another portkey to get back to the Hog's Head, where Blaise bought her a firewhiskey. She would never usually have agreed to such lawlessness but was feeling quite rebellious after their little heist and thought she might as well do the full monty. After their drinks she walked back up to school with a courageous spirit in her blood and marched down to the Slytherin dungeons. Luckily she only had to wait a short time for Draco to come out, and even better, he was alone. She grabbed his hand with a grin, and he looked at her face in the shadows with an expression of shock. "Hermione!" He tried to snatch his hand away. "What are you doing here?"

"We don't need to hide anymore!" She declared, even as he pulled her into an empty alcove and put a finger to his lips. "I have the final horcrux!"

"That's great," For some reason he looked confused. "But your father still needs to take control." He gave her a chaste kiss when he saw the disappointed expression on her lips. "Don't be sad, love. We truly are almost there. Now, can you give it to me so I can send it back to the Manor?"

She nodded and reached into the bag Blaise had given her to carry the cup. Nothing. Her heart thumped and her throat felt constricted. Turning the bag inside out, she turned to Draco, now fully sober and hissed _"where the fuck is Blaise Zabini?"_


	9. Smiling Faces Sometimes Pretend

**_Chapter IX- Smiling Faces Sometimes Pretend:_**

As Draco sunk his fist into his childhood friend's face he bellowed "where the fuck is it?" Wands had been abandoned in favour of fists. It was much more passionate and personal. Zabini just grinned up at him lazily. He could sense Hermione lurking reluctantly in the shadows, along with a growing crowd of onlookers. It was almost dinner time, and they were near the Great Hall. Gritting his teeth, he dragged the suave Italian into an empty classroom where they had more privacy. "Tell me," he ordered, finally drawing his wand. "Or I'll kill you."

He heard the door open and close and instinctively knew it was Hermione. The guilt for what had happened in January was already eating her alive. He couldn't let her blame herself for the destruction of another horcrux. And he'd trusted Zabini to help her get it. The selfish part of him couldn't live with the guilt of being the one who caused hers.

Zabini laughed like a mad-man, long and leisurely. "Oh Drake," he drawled. "It's not that I don't believe you... I just don't care." That couldn't be true. Self preservation was etched into every Slytherin's DNA like self justification was in Gryffindors'. "I don't care about anything," he said slowly, tip-toeing his fingers along the desk behind him until he gripped the handle of a knife. "Except making you suffer." He launched himself forwards, the knife pointed at Draco's chest. Draco did what was automatic. He spun the knife, plunging it into his friend's chest. He heard Hermione's gasp without really hearing it. He felt the air brush past him as she raced forward to Blaise, collecting his head in her lap. He saw the blurred image of the always active greying face as it became less lifeless, the eyes wide and disbelieving. "Draco!" Hermione shouted like she was underwater. "Go get Madam Pomfrey."

"No..." a weak Blaise said and it jolted Draco back down to Earth. He fell to his knees, crawling towards his friend as Blaise stared at him. "It was this," he struggled to reach around his neck, but Hermione helped, pulling off a locket engraved with a pattern of jewels for him. "I took it from the vault... God I'm sorry, I'm sor-"

"Shush..." Hermione whispered. "It's not your fault."

"Of course it is, I was a greedy prat." Blaise gazed up at her, his voice becoming more breathless as he started to run out. He looked to his friend. "Don't you blame yourself for a second Drake," he chuckled darkly. "I know what you're like."

"I'm sorry anyway," Draco's voice cracked as he spoke and his heart clenched, but he managed the smallest of smiles.

Satisfied, Blaise looked back up to Hermione, speaking faster now, trying to make sure he said every word he needed to. "The cup-it's behind a portrait just outside the Owlery. He was going to send it- I don't know where- you should... go now."

"We're not going _now_ , wanker," Draco said. Hermione looked at him proudly as she squeezed Blaise's hand, the blood oozing out of him. Slowly his face slackened and Draco licked his lips uncomfortably for a moment before instinctively gripping the other hand. His friend died with one last smile at him, and Draco was glad. Smiling was the way Blaise looked best. It made him uncomfortable to see the emotionless expression on his face now, so he got to his feet and cleared his throat. "I'll go to the Owlery."

"Alright," his girlfriend replied, her voice a little hoarse as well. "Draco," he paused as she called out his name and laid a comforting hand on his shoulder. "He meant it. It wasn't your fault."

"Neither was the other horcrux or Weaselette's death yours," he told her, sending her a brief smile over his shoulder before he left to go find the cup.

* * *

At dinner that night after burning her clothes and getting changed Hermione waited for an announcement of Blaise's death. None came. Perhaps they hadn't found him yet. The next day she peered into the classroom on her way down to breakfast and saw the blood had been mopped up, the body removed, and everything put back to how it had been before they'd entered the room. Still no announcement. Burning with rage, she gritted her teeth, sat down at the table with the boys and pretended that everything was fine. She could see the Slytherins whispering and confused at the other end of the hall but apart from that everything was completely normal. No-one was giving them any explanation or acknowledging that there was an empty space. She could see Draco itching to offer his friends some closure but neither of them could say anything, it would demolish their cover. Dumbledore would surely see it as proof of Draco's already assumed Death Eater status and her being present at one murder- a coincidence, two- that bordered on suspicious.

 _Almost_ _there_ was her mantra. She used the time to focus particularly on developing her non-verbals, since she was sure that guard at Gringotts must have been weak, and even then it had barely worked. When the time came, she wanted to be able to take down anyone that got in her way, not just a conveniently placed puny adversary. She wished she could be at the Manor though, planning the takeover, aware of what was actually going on. She had no clue whether her father would strike today, in a month, or a year's time. Dumbledore's even further increased security didn't help things either. She wanted to see Draco; to comfort him, to have him comfort her. She knew there would be more death to come and she was willing to weather it, but Blaise's had been unnecessary and unrewarded and unfair- and they were both still struggling with it alone.

* * *

In the Easter Holidays Hermione again used the excuse that she was going to visit some landmarks, but this time she was met at King's Cross not by Narcissa but by Draco. "Hey," she greeted him, kissing him after doing a quick scan. Soon she wouldn't have to, she sang to herself. "Not that I'm not thrilled to see you, but why are you here? You can't apparate."

"We're not going to the Manor," said Draco. She gave him a perplexed look and he gestured to a taxi. "Your chariot, m'lady." She curtsied in response with a little laugh, sliding in beside him.

"So where are we go-?"

"Shush!" Draco smothered her lips, pushing her against the taxi seat, swirling his tongue in her mouth expertly. She moaned. It had been far too long since they'd last done this. For this moment they were the only ones in the world. The taxi and the threats and the losses and the whole damn city of London, the whole damn world, crumbled. All that mattered, all that existed, was him. His fervent intensity was all consuming and she felt perfectly in tune with him. They were melting into each other, moulding into one creature that breathed with one pair of lungs, lived with one beating heart.

"End of the line!" The sets fell back into place around them and she grudgingly clamoured out as Draco tossed an excess of muggle money at the driver.

She glanced around, and instantly recognised that they were outside the Leaky Cauldron. Turning to Draco to ask him what they were doing here, he enveloped them both in his invisibility cloak. Being so encased with him yet unable to do what she wanted was torturous, but she pushed down her feelings as they hurried down the familiar street. She could almost see Ginny's ghost in the ice cream parlour they always visited at the end of each trip at the beginning of the school year, and across from that Blaise's lively grin as he thundered down the steps of Gringott's. Suddenly ghosts strangling her in a place that had for so many years had been absolutely innocent. Draco took her arm and pulled her down a side alley, one she hadn't been down before. Entranced, she gazed into the shop windows at the shrunken heads, bones and giant spiders. Maybe she should buy some for Ron. Draco pulled her in as she almost crashed into a lumbering wizard charging out of a tattoo shop with a new pattern of snakes etched all over his face. "This is it," Draco told her and she glanced up to see the name of the shop before he took her in. Borgin and Burkes.

Inside the shop a cast of disturbing masks leered at her from every angle, while intriguing medieval torture instruments hung from the ceiling. An old shrunken hand lay decoratively on a cushion. The Hand of Glory... she approached it slowly, her own hand outstretched, jolting back as a similarly shrivelled old man popped up from behind the counter. "Mr Borgin," said Draco respectfully. "My father tells me it is done."

"Indeed," the old man nodded, eyeing her curiously. He led them around the corner to a cobwebbed area where stood an imposing black cabinet. Her boyfriend approached it first, pulling open the door and clapping his hands together in delight when he saw an apple inside.

"Excellent!" Still confused, Hermione took another step forwards. Draco turned back, taking her hand and gesturing for her to follow him. They both squeezed inside the cabinet as although she felt incredibly perplexed she also trusted him implicitly. Draco shut the doors behind them and after a moment he opened them again, whooping triumphantly as he pulled her out into a different, somehow familiar location. "We travelled?" She looked around. It hadn't felt like portkey or even apparition, she hadn't felt any movement at all. Ash scuffed her shoes and as she studied the ruins around her she realised why it was so familiar. "To the Room of Requirement."

"After January I moved the matching cabinet in here while my father worked on repairing the one at Borgin and Burke's. Before we left I put the apple in to test it- and it worked." He shook her a little as if to get her to realise the magnitude of this achievement. "We've got a way in! The invasion's going to happen next term!"

 _"Disgusting Death Eater whore!"_ Ghoulish screams filled her ears and Draco noticed her looking around with empty eyes.

"You alright?"

But her eyes weren't empty with sadness. She nodded, smirking a little, and pulled him back into the cupboard. "Let's go set a date."

 ** _Merry Christmas!_**


	10. You'll Never Know What Hit You

_**Chapter X- You'll Never Know What Hit You:**_

Hermione stretched with a yawn as she rolled out of bed, smiled sleepily at the sight of the gown Narcissa had gotten her for Christmas abandoned on a chair after the party last night and trudged downstairs. The alluring aroma filling the air hit her as soon as she walked into the kitchen, enveloping her in a warm embrace. Smiling, she poured herself a glass of orange juice from its decanter and leaned up onto her tiptoes to kiss the man in charge of the sizzling bacon on the cheek, hugging the woman with her same bushy hair.

"Good morning sweetheart, sleep well?" Sophia's voice was serene as she flipped the pancakes. Nodding absent-mindedly, Hermione moved into the adjacent room and opened the fridge door to search for the blueberries. Their house elf Mindy had been re-arranging it, again, and it was like a labyrinth.

"Hey, Mum, could you come with me later to check out this flat that Draco and I are interested in?" Finally she gave up her crusade and, settling for raspberries, turned to head back into the kitchen.

 _"Hermione don't!"_

She rolled her eyes. "Dad! I know you don't want me to move out but I think-" The open packet of fruit dropped to the floor and spilled, a blanket of red covering the tiles. Her father was gone, familiar men, people she trusted, surrounded her mother in a cult like circle, each with a wand pointed at her head. In synch, their faces snapped to her, faces that felt like jabs to the stomach. Through the gap, bright eyes wide with innocent shock stared at her, silently pleading for help. She struggled to take a step forwards but she was glued to the floor. Albus Dumbledore. James Potter. Sirius Black. Arthur Weasley. Ron Weasley. Harry Potter. Her hands wouldn't move from their sides. **_"Avada kedavra!"_** Bellowed the voices that had sung her lullabies, played with her, mingling with the shrieks of the victim and her daughter to create a cacophony of sound.

* * *

 _"Mum!"_ Hermione sat up in her bed sweating to the giggles of her roommates. They were gathered in a chillingly resonant circle on the floor just beyond her bed, whispering and painting each others' nails. _They were all the same. Every last one of them._ She yanked the curtains around her bed shut and blocked them out.

After tomorrow they'd either be dead or bowing at her feet.

* * *

"Good morning Drakie," Pansy Parkinson simpered as she threw herself into Draco's path, grabbing his arm.

For once, he didn't throw her across the room. Instead he gave a winning smile, "sure is", sending a wink to Theodore Nott. His father was a high ranking Death Eater, though not as high as his own, and Theo was one of the only other people who knew about the attack tonight. He didn't know about Hermione of course, no-one did except the other residents of Malfoy Manor. Theo probably thought he was _enjoying_ the attention he received from every girl in their house.

From the couch, his mischievous friend leered back, taking his girlfriend Daphne's arm in an uncharacteristicly gentleman-like fashion before suggesting to the other two with the casualness of any starving schoolboy being held up by his friends on any normal day, "breakfast?"

* * *

Drumming her pencil on the desk, Hermione's eyes were fixated on the clock. She'd never been this unfocused in a class before, but today was dragging on.

Her dorm-mates continued to snicker at her and mockingly call out for their own "mummies" in high pitched despairing tones whenever they saw her.

At breakfast Ron had tried to kiss her in front of the whole school and she'd had to awkwardly manoeuvre away and whisper lustily "later", a time which would thankfully never come. That had satisfied him and his cheeks had gone beetroot with the anticipation as he kept his arm tight around her the whole time she was struggling to eat. Harry kept casting his best friend not so discrete winks and lewd grins, and when she finally managed to make her escape she heard them high five behind her.

Outside Arithmancy a bunch of fourth year Slytherins jogged up to her and started purring, calling her an "easy lioness" and asking if they could have a turn with her in the "den". Deep breaths. Only a few more hours to keep up this false malleable identity.

* * *

Dumbledore smiled genially at the unexpected visitor to his office. Pius Thicknesse had been a rather unremarkable man ever since the Hogwarts Headmaster has known him, and his obscure appointment to the highest position in the country had come out of nowhere, as had his antecedent's demise. Dumbledore had never particularly liked Fudge, who refused to entertain his ideas that Voldemort could still be out there somewhere, but his time in office had been peaceful enough. It had been cut short with an unexpected resignation and his consequent absolute disappearance from society. So yes, Dumbledore was suspicious of his successor.

"I have received," Thicknesse drawled, turning a snow globe from the desk over in his hands. "As I'm sure have you, many letters from concerned parents." Dumbledore nodded. The death of Ginny Weasley had been a huge news story; a chance for his enemies to try to sink their teeth into him. He'd tried to cover up the later incident with Mr Zabini for as long as possible to shield his reputation but news had eventually gotten out. Media outlets, angry Pure-blooded parent, competitive Ministry officials, they'd all been calling for his head. "This has happened under your governance," the man spoke with an increasing amount of vehemence. "You have put children at risk and continue to do so. And you shall be held responsible. I want you out."

Nodding again, Dumbledore got to his feet, walking over to his pet Phoenix Fawkes. "I'm sure you do Pius," the other man was watching him with burning eyes. "But I don't want to leave." He turned back to the minister with a defiant smile on his face. "I will remain at Hogwarts until such a time as I am dragged out on my hands and knees."

"That can be arranged," Thicknesse spat out automatically as he slammed the snow globe back down on the desk and stood up, a long bony finger of justice pointed at the Headmaster. "The reckoning will come, Dumbledore, sooner than you could imagine."

He stormed out of the office and the showy smile fell from Dumbledore's lips, a wary expression replacing it instead.

* * *

With a disappointed sigh, Voldemort dismissed his puppet minister over the fireplace, telling him to go detain the Headmaster anyway. The task he'd given Thicknesse was a simple one; remove Dumbledore. No matter, his plans were still shaping up, it just would have been so much easier with the loony old bat out of the way and isolated. Deciding to proceed, Voldemort called for Lucius. His closest friend had also been his confidant and closest conspirator. The Malfoy patriarch could actually get things done. "Call my followers," he told him. "It's time to prepare them." Lucius nodded and rolling up his sleeve, pressed his Dark Mark.

Voldemort watched from a dark corner of the room as his servants materialised with a disappointingly slow reaction time. Only the ever-loyal inner circle had known of his arrival. This was going to be painful for the rest of them.

"What are we doing here Lucius?" Asked Karakoff dismissively.

With a relaxed stride, Voldemort showed himself, to a stunned silence. The Death Eaters fell to their knees with their faces hidden in shame and he scoffed. "My 'friends'," he greeted, genially enough. "As you can see, I have returned in the flesh. And you!" He raised his voice, gesturing to them as he threw out an all-encompassing arm. "I hear you have not been loyal." They shrunk further down to the ground. His voice lower now, dangerously quiet, he read out their crimes. "You witnessed my power first hand, yet once you heard of my downfall you immediately flung yourselves at the Order's feet." With slow steps, he walked around the circle, surveying them. "You claimed to have been Imperiused to scramble like fleas out of your chains. You abandoned our mission to hide in plain sight." He tutted and in the silence it sounded like the ringing of judgement day bells. **_"Crucio."_**

Screams pierced the air. He watched emotionlessly until he'd decided that would suffice for now. Things to do...

"Thankfully for you all," he smiled, a benevolent dictator. "I have a way for you to make it up to me."

* * *

After the longest day of her life, Hermione finally found herself back in the Great Hall for dinner. Dumbledore was noticeably absent. Digging into her steak pie with vigour, she smiled.

* * *

They made it from the Manor to Borgin and Burke's to the Hogwarts Room Of Requirement without a hitch. "Seal the Great Hall," he ordered to a couple of Death Eaters, gesturing several others to follow him and telling Lucius to wait for the remaining ones to come through the cabinet so he could instruct them. With purposeful movements, he made his way to Dumbledore's office, seeing Thicknesse appearing out of it. The Minister nodded and disappeared around the corner, Voldemort slipping through the door he'd left open and instructing his friends to wait. " ** _Expelliarmus_** ," he called as he entered the room, Dumbledore's wand flew across the room.

The old man turned towards him, unsuccessfully trying to school his shocked expression into one of resignation. "Tom," he greeted as though they were familiars. Voldemort narrowed his beady red eyes, his wand pointed and ready. He licked his lips. He was going to savour this moment. "Tom," Dumbledore seemed more worried now, as he should be. He had nowhere to go.

"I debated torturing you in the dungeons for a while," he said with a sigh. "It seemed more fitting than a quick death. But sometimes practicality must come before revenge." He seemed to have surprised the Headmaster. He wouldn't have expected him to put anything before revenge. "You are too much of a risk alive... _**AVADA KEDAVRA**_!" Unadulterated joy coated his features as he watched his nemesis slip to the floor not as a powerful, fighting wizard but as a frail, defenceless old man. After checking the pulse to be sure, he kicked the body to the side and picked up the most powerful wand in the world, turning it over in his hands with a triumphant leer as he fingered the carvings.

* * *

The teachers were visibly beginning to worry about Dumbledore's absence when the doors to the Great Hall flew open and Hermione had to school her features into shock, yanking down the edges of an almost uncontrollable grin. "Good evening Hogwarts staff and students!" Her father called out, his Death Eaters fanned out behind him covering the room as he stopped by the door, turning to face them all. Dumbledore's secrecy had been his downfall; it was clear from the terror-struck, haunted expressions on their faces that none of the teachers had been privy to his suspicion's of the Dark Lord's return. "I bring excellent news! Your lord and saviour Albus Dumbledore," with a grin of horrifying delight he cried out "is DEAD!" Gasps and outraged shouts of dissent filled the air, but her father just made a hand gesture, and two Death Eaters who looked a lot like Crabbe and Goyle carried in the limp body, chucking it to the ground with deatched abandonment. Opposite her, she saw Harry's eyes light up with fury and felt Ron reach for her hand under the table but she shifted away, making sure to make it seem as though she were just petrified and not disgusted. "So now I ask, who will join me and enjoy my protection?" he surveyed the room, holding out a welcoming arm that extended the elder wand of Dumbledore's that she had read about, the mightiest wand in the world. "And who will die?"

The offer hung in the air for barely a moment before Harry got to his feet and shouted at Voldemort "we remain united in his memory!" To the cheers of his housemates, although the rest of the hall remained silent.

Voldemort smirked knowingly, which seemed to stagger Harry a little, but that was nothing compared to his abject horror as she stood and slowly walked over to join the Death Eaters, ignoring Ron's shocked hand that reached out to half-heartedly stop her. "You would all be wise to take my father's offer," she called, revelling in the chaos as eyes widened and her stunned audience took in the revelation.

"But- but-" Ron stuttered.

" ** _Silencio_**!" She pointed her wand at him, sighing with relief as he finally fell silent. "Much better..." Harry fixed her with a glare, which was a change from the gobsmacked expression he'd been employing beforehand.

"What are you talking about?" Her faux twin begged, a final attempt. "We're your family Hermione! I'm your brother!"

She chuckled, pushing back his hair in the way you might pet a puppy. "You're my family in no sense of the word; biological, or otherwise." She had the full attention of everyone in the room, and she planned to monopolise on it. "Remember when you tried to take away my free will by giving your best friend, who'd already kissed me against my will, a love potion to make me fall in love with him?" Everyone was shocked by the accusation, which was only proven by the ashamed looks on Harry and Ron's faces. She heard her father and Draco both simultaneously begin to cast the **_cruciatus_** curse and stopped them with a hand gesture. "There'll be time for that later." It was a promise to them, to the offenders, and to herself. Now though, she had a speech to make. Returning to her father's side, she looked out at all of the tables. "This past year has flipped everything I thought I knew on its head. I've learned that those who you'd never have suspected have the darkest secrets of all; that those who seem evil and villainous can sometimes be... right." She squeezed her father's hand. "Albus Dumbledore and the other members of the Order killed my mother in cold blood and then kidnapped me from my crib and kept me from my family." Even Dumbledore's staunchest supporters up at the teachers' table were watching her intently. "Everyone has darkness in them, but some people are deceptive about it, they make themselves out to be heroes when they're truly thieves. It's because of this that I ask you to consider joining not the Dark side, but the winning one."

Draco led the way, his friends with him. Seething and growling, the Gryffindors watched as a majority of the table at the far end of the hall cleared, but it wasn't just them. Jarred by her story, a large amount of Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs joined as well. The teachers watched in helpless silence as the Gryffindors remained the only steadfast supporters of the Light- and then their rank broke. A young girl edged forwards to stand with Hermione, whispering how sorry she was for what had happened to her, clasping her hand. Hermione smiled down at her. Another hand grasped her other one, but it wasn't Draco. Turning her head, she saw Pansy Parkinson. The other girl sort of shrugged at the question in Hermione's eyes. "Nice speech Po-Riddle?"

With a wink to her father, Hermione confirmed it. "Hermione Adele Riddle."

 ** _Happy new year!_**


	11. This Will Be Your Legacy

**_Chapter XI- This Will Be Your Legacy:_**

 _"Afternoon Madam Minister," "Afternoon Madam Minister!"_ A cacophony of voices greeted her as she strolled down the corridor, nodding benevolently from side to side to her electorate.

"M-m-Madam Minister-"

"How many times do I have to tell you," She glared at her Junior Assistant, the Gryffindor who'd been the first to join them all those years ago, before it slowly morphed into a smile. "It's Hermione."

The younger girl blushed and hid behind her hair a little, but giggled briefly. "The Muggle prime minister has sent those documents you requested." She bustled over to her desk and picked up a pile of papers about a mile high, depositing them into Hermione's arms.

"Oof!" She cried out, almost tripping from the sight of them. "What type of paper are these made of?"

"The secrets probably weigh them down," her assistant said seriously, then they both burst out laughing and with a quick thank you Hermione continued on to her office.

When she opened the door she was greeted by the sight of someone in the chair behind her desk. Throwing the papers down on a side table, she put her hands on her hips in an intimidating stance. "Afternoon Madam Minister," greeted the intruder.

She took a step forwards, kicking the door shut with her foot. "And what are you doing here?"

"I'm on my lunch break," he said, his voice dripping with innocent outrage at the accusation that he might be skipping work.

With a long sigh, she conceded. "Works for me..."

Even after all these years it was still exciting to yank off his tie as he loosened her tight bun and let her bushy hair bounce down around her face. It was still as exhilarating as that first time as her clothes pooled at her feet and he swept the work off her desk, laying her out on it. It was still intoxicating as their tongues mingled and she still made the same little gasp that he loved as he thrust into her. It was still perfect as he whispered how much he loved her, how much he always had and always would, and she reciprocated the sentiments.

"Mada- Hermione!" A knock on the door jolted them both out of paradise where only the other existed. "There's someone here to see you!"

"I don't remember making any appointments until two so tell them they'll have to wait, please," she called, making a face at Draco as he slid a hand up her body purposefully before slapping it away with only the smallest of smiles on her face.

"Um, he doesn't want to wait-" she'd barely finished her sentence before the door burst open and Hermione let out a startled squeal, yanking Draco down under the table with her as she cried out in mortification. "FATHER!"

The Dark Lord simply rolled his eyes. "I'm glad to see you've been using your time well in my absence."

Her clothes back on again with a little scrambling and a little magic, she popped up from beneath the table with a scowl and threw the papers at her father with an angry flick of her wand. "I'll have you know I've been working just as hard as always!"

Voldemort raised his hands in surrender, leaning away from her rage before reaching down to get the papers that had ricocheted off him and landed on the floor. "I was just teasing sweetheart!"

"I often make the same mistake," Draco chuckled and received a slap on the arm in response. "How was Switzerland though?" He asked. Her father had taken the children with him on his trip to meet the other wizarding world leaders to give them some experience. Twelve year old Sofia had been incredibly into Wizarding politics practically since she'd discovered the word, but they had hoped the trip would give her older brother Scorpius some sense of direction. He had no clue what he wanted to do with his life after Hogwarts and he wasn't comfortable there either. It upset her that her son felt so adrift, and what was worse, that nothing she'd tried seemed to help him. She'd thought that maybe it was a phase but he was coming into his O.W.L year and he really needed to get good results to have any future at all.

Seeing right through Draco's question, her father assured him, "They're both safe visiting Grandma and Grandad at the Manor, and they had a great time. Sofia kept a whole little diary of all her tips and plans," he chuckled. "She's going to dominate the world that one."

Hermione smiled. That sounded like Sofia alright. "And how did Scorpius find it?"

Her father sighed. "I don't think politics is for Scorpius."

"Well that's fine!" She shrugged. "But did it at least give him some aspiration or snap him out of this monotonous funk he's fallen into?"

"I'm afraid not," she looked at Draco and he nodded, reading what she wanted to do in her eyes.

"Father, I'm afraid I'm going to have to leave you here to finalise the plans."

He nodded in understanding. "Is there any day you'd prefer darling?"

"Thursday looks like it'll be nice and warm," input Draco and she nodded her consent to that.

Her father grinned, thinking of the unrepentant 'heroes' who'd hurt them. "Indeed. Highs of thirty degrees, I saw. Perfect day for an execution."

* * *

After Sofia had given her a rundown of all the highlights of the trip in her very detailed bullet journal, Hermione left her husband with her and went to go find their son. She went straight up to his room, as that and the dining room seemed to be the only places he frequented these days, and knocked. No answer. "I'm coming in," she announced, and slowly entered the room. It was dark in there and at first she thought he might be sleeping but then his eyes snapped open and she recognised the piercing grey he shared with Draco. Turning on the lamp by his bed, she pulled up a chair and sat on it backwards. He rolled over onto his side to face her. "Hey honey, how was the trip?" He made a sort of shrugging motion, his face blank. With a long sigh, she gripped his hand. "Sweetheart, can you tell me what's wrong? I hate seeing you like this, I just want you be happy and fulfilled."

"I-" Scorpius fidgeted, eventually getting up into a sitting position but avoiding eye contact with her. "I'm um, in love with a Gryffindor," he whispered, so low she could barely hear him. Her heart broke to realise he'd thought they would turn against him for so small a matter. "Who's a boy." He said even quieter, tears dripping down his face.

"Scorpius!" She pulled him up to look at her properly. "That doesn't matter to me-"

"I know that!" His voice suddenly cracked in a shout, jolting her. "But what about Dad? What about Grandma and Grandad? What about Grandpa Tom?"

"I'm disappointed in you Scorpius," a deep voice said from the door. They both turned to see Draco scowling and she stood up, horrified. "I want you to be happy just as much as your mother does. We all do!" Tears blinded her own eyes as she watched her husband embrace their son in their first hug for years. This was what happiness felt like. She was so glad they had all found it.

 ** _Et fini! I might do some one-shots of the children but that's it for this story. Thank you so much for all the incredible support!_**


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